War of the Heart
by castaway567
Summary: As the gang nears the end of highschool, their world is changed by war, will their love survive the peril they face. Pairings: y&U J&A O&OC, Mature for violence and language to come
1. War of the Heart

**Shout for joy! After completing my last story I now get to work on what has been my pet project of an idea. this is a war/romance story. I hope you all enjoy. Just to give you a heads up, this takes place about three years after "Time We Need" Dark Reb is writing a story/ inbetweener with me. Check his work out cause I may pull from his story later on. However, I hope you enjoy this one way more than my others. And thank you to all those who review, I like to hear your thoughts either good or bad.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code lyoko, any of the countries mentioned, or microsoft. LOL... I do own the character Kasey and this story.**

**A/N: I'm rating this story mature, for future violence, probally not going to put lemon in here so it's not mature for that.**

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The day was cold and brisk but neither of them cared. The only thing that mattered was being with each other. The wind picked up and the young man reached up and wiped the goldish red hair out of his girlfriends eyes.

"Kasey I love you."

"Odd I love you too, it's just weird to think we will be graduating in a few months isn't it?"

Odd smiled, 'We've been through a lot together, and she's only gotten more beautiful over the years' Odd thought.

Kasey smiled and snuggled up to Odd on the park bench. Odd had grown up over the past few years into the kind of guy she always wanted to marry. 'We're still a little young to think about that' She thought. She reached up and brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. Odd no longer had the dark purple spot in the middle and actually liked his hair more on the short side. Kasey always joked that he was "trying to clean up his act."

"Hey you two, you're going to get sick if you stay out here all day."

"Yes Mom!" Odd said jokingly as he and Kasey headed towards the dorm to join Yumi and Ulrich. Yumi gave Odd a hurt look for the mom comment.

Yumi was still her same self, black hair that was a little longer, but pretty much the same, just a little older and more mature looking. Ulrich had filled out nicely, but he still dressed the same, just the occasional leather jacket thrown in the mix.

Ulrich punched Odd lightly in the arm as he entered through the door, "Thought you two were going to freeze in each others arms."

"Nah, I'm always warm around her." Kasey blushed and rested her head on Odd's shoulders.

"So what were you two up to?" Kasey asked, smiling mischievously.

The two teens blushed and walked down the hall, it was time to meet Jeremy and Aelita for an update.

They all walked in and sat down. Jeremy looked up from his computer and greeted everyone. Jeremy like the others was taller, but he unlike Ulrich was still skinny and on the scrawny side. Aelita sat up in the bed she had been napping in and took a seat by Jeremy. She had changed a little since the time they had first met her. Aelita had let her hair grow to her shoulders and had matured into a very attractive young woman. A woman that was still very much in love with Jeremy. She gently kissed him on the cheek and Jeremy began the meeting.

"Well, it's been a question we have tried to answer for the past few years, but nothing has come up so far. When we graduate, we won't be able to monitor Xana, and well we're running out of time."

The others nodded, they had been looking for younger students to add to their group, but no one was close to what they were looking for. After a few moments, the conversation changed subjects.

"Hey, have you heard about the riots in the middle east?" Odd asked.

"Yeah, I heard on the news, that a lot of the countries in Africa and the Middle East are forming alliances." Jeremy said.

"You don't think Xana has gone global do you?" Yumi questioned.

Jeremy sighed, "I doubt it, I think this is all humanity on this one, they say it could lead to war. I heard that France is contemplating joining England, Scotland, Germany, and the United States in some sort of alliance."

"Do you think it's going to get serious anytime soon?" Kasey asked holding on to Odd.

"No idea Kasey, I have no idea." The long time friends, started talking about the next few months ahead, and graduation at the end. They latched onto the future that seemed to burn so bright.

Somewhere in downtown Paris a bus was traveling down the road. It stopped to take on a few passengers. The last man on eyed the bus driver and took his seat, setting his backpack on the floor. The driver closed the door and pulled away entering the busy noon traffic.

The Paris police officer did not expect any serious trouble to come his way today. The phone rang and he picked up giving his usual, "Police how can we assist you" speech."

The man on the other line was angry, actually furious was more like it. "Listen to me, this is a sample of what is to come to you arrogant nations."

The French policeman panicked, "Sir what is your name?"

"You shall call me Hades." With that the phone went dead.

A few miles away the bus stopped. The man got off and walked away. As the bus pulled away a small girl pointed at the bag, "mommy that man forgot his backpack."

The man reached into his coat and slipped out a detonator, depressing it a moment later. The bus exploded in a fireball, sending deadly shrapnel in all directions. Pedestrians on the sidewalks were ripped to shreds by the flying debris; downtown Paris went from peaceful to chaotic in mere seconds.

The police man heard the explosion and rushed to the window, the phone rang again. He picked it up. "Hello?"

"This is Hades, tell your government that we will continue until you are all dead."

"You bastard," The cop stammered, "who do you work for?" The cop screamed with grieving rage.

"We are AMEA, (African Middle East Alliance) we will be back soon."

The phone went dead.

Later that night the news of the explosion was broadcast around the world. Kasey and Odd watched in utter disgust as footage of the bus exploding was shown. Hundreds had been wounded and at least forty were expected to dead. The reporter didn't say it, but it was obvious that some of the dead's remains had been totally evaporated by the explosion.

"Who would do such a thing?" Kasey asked in shock.

A knock at the door prompted Odd to get up. He opened it to find Yumi and Ulrich.

"Did you see that?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah, I…." Odd was cut off by Kasey's shushing.

"I have just been informed that France has formed joined the AFN (Alliance of Free Nations). France and its new allies have declared war on the countries of the AMEA. I am told that a draft will go into affect in the next week to increase the numbers in the army," The reporter on the TV said sadly. "Best of luck and God's blessing on you all." With that the reporter signed off the air.

Yumi looked with sad eyes at Ulrich, "Do you think…?"

"I don't know, but we need to talk to Jeremy, we may be leaving here way before we planned. We need to plan on how to deal with Xana if one or more of us is drafted."

The others nodded at Ulrich and they headed back to Jeremy's room.

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**Well another first chapter of a story complete, please review, I really need to know what you think of the idea. Thanks!**


	2. Terror

**Disclaimer: I own the story and the OC's unfortunately I don't own Code lyoko, but on to better news.**

**A/N:** **I hope you enjoy this chapter, please read and review. Hope everyone is having a good day.**

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The next two days went by like any other for Odd and the others. The terrorist attack a few days earlier weighed heavily on their minds, but it still didn't stop them from going about daily life. Odd was walking to the gym with Ulrich when Jim came running up to them.

"Boys, I need some help, can you and your friends help chaperone the fifth graders on their field trip today?"

Odd and Ulrich smiled, this would get them out of class for the whole day. They agreed and ran off to grab the others. Jim smiled; relieved to have some help with the loud rebellious kids he had to watch all day.

"So where are we going Jim?" Jeremy asked.

"Well son, you'll actually like this, we're taking a tour of the local computer assembly plant."

Odd groaned and the others laughed, "Never volunteer unless you know what you're getting into," Odd complained.

Kasey lightly punched him in the arm, "Oh come on Odd, how bad can it be?"

"I guess you're right, besides, it's fried spinach today in the cafeteria and that is the only food I down right refuse to eat. Maybe we can grab a meal while we're out."

"He never stops thinking about food." Ulrich laughed and they all boarded the bus along with thirty fifth graders.

The bus pulled out of Kadic and the older students settled into their seats, starting idle conversation with the younger kids to pass the time. The bus passed three white vans heading towards the school.

"Hey Jim, what are those vans for?" Ulrich asked

"Oh, they're probably fixing the plumbing, we've had a lot of leaky pipes and the principle ordered an overhaul of the whole plumbing to bring the building up to date."

"Sounds like a mess." Ulrich sighed and closed his eyes to get some sleep. He didn't get any due to the fact that the fifth grade girls kept looking at him and giggling. He smiled at them and they giggled again and blushed, afraid that Ulrich would notice their crushes on him.

Odd seeing his best friends little admirers leaned forward to whisper in Ulrich's ear, "Hey, stud, looks like you got some fans."

"I know, do you think they'll be following my every move all day do you?"

"Yep!" Odd answered cheerfully and Ulrich sighed, trying again to close his eyes.

Sissy's father, the principal of Kadic walked outside to meet the three vans that pulled up. The vans stopped and men began jumping out grabbing what looked like boxes of pipes and sealants.

"Oh I'm so glad you came we've had so much…" Sissy's father was cut off by a pistol shoved into his stomach by what appeared to be the leader of the men.

"Dear sir, you will take us inside quietly or we will start shooting everyone."

The principal turned and opened the door leading the terrorists inside. He saw Mrs. Hertz in the hall. "Why hello Mrs. Hertz, how are the new burners working out?"

Mrs. Hertz looked confused for a moment, and then spoke, "The burners are great sir." She went straight to the office. The school hadn't had new burners in years, it was the code word the staff had set up if something was wrong. Mrs. Hertz quickly dialed the police.

The terrorist leader ordered the principal to call an assembly. The students gathered in the gymnasium with the normal groaning and muttering that came with assemblies. Suddenly the other men in the group appeared brandishing their AK's and set chains on all the doors. The leader stepped up on the stage to address the frightened children and teachers.

"Hello, my name is Mahib and we all work for AMEA. You have been chosen as an example of the horror to come to your nation as well as those who have for years spoken out against our ways."

Whimpers from the smaller children were heard as the older students and teachers sat in paralyzed fear. Sissy was sitting with her two henchmen. She leaned over to them.

"Guys, I just want to say…well if we don't make it out of here, I'm sorry if I've been mean to you."

Herb and Nicolas, stared in shock at Sissy, this was the first kind word ever directed towards them. They both nodded to her. One of the men saw the movement and grabbed Herb out of his seat.

"Mahib, this one can be first!" Mahib laughed and the man dragged a struggling Herb up on stage and put him on his knees. Mahib reached into his jacket and pulled out a pistol and placed it to Herb's head.

"Be proud young man, you are to send a message to the world." Mahib cocked the gun and paused. Police cars roared onto the campus and swat personnel enveloped the school. Mahib took out a cell phone.

The girls were still attached at Ulrich's hip, way more interested in him than the boring tour they were on. Yumi laughed, she found all the attention Ulrich was getting hilarious. Ulrich caught her glance and smiled sadly. The tour continued, none of them aware of what was going on at their school.

"Yes Hades I said cops, they have us surrounded." Mahib said into the phone.

"Mahib, I am sorry, but I do not think you will make it out, not after our previous attack. Send a message my loyal soldier, send them a message."

Mahib smiled a hideous evil smile, "Yes sir, and sir?"

"Yes Mahib?"

"It was an honor serving by your side."

"The honor was all mine." With that said Hades hung the phone up at his safe house outside of Paris. "Damn it!" He screamed at no one as he slammed his fists down on the desk. He knew many of his comrades would die in the war they sought, but he didn't plan on losing his right hand man so early. 'Oh well, Mahib will serve the cause well.'

Mahib gathered his men on stage and told them to open fire after he fired the first shot. With that he dragged Herb off the stage towards the door. Sissy and Nicolas stared in horror at their friend. Mahib unchained the door and stepped outside.

The police saw a man step out of the building with a gun to a kid's head. "Frenchmen, your children have been chosen to serve a greater purpose, we thank you!" Mahib shouted at the hundred of guns pointed at him. With that he looked down at Herb.

"Goodbye child."

Herb's eyes opened in fear and Mahib pulled the trigger. The bullet shot into Herb's head killing him before his body hit the ground. The police stood in shock for a moment as the watched the boy's body fall to the ground. Mahib took the chance to open fire on the police and news crew gathered outside. A few police were hit, but they soon gathered their wits and opened fire. Mahib's body was racked up and down by bullets, the swat rushed the gymnasium.

The trip was over and all of the students and chaperones piled back onto the bus. The bus headed back to the school. None of them expected to find the horror that awaited them.

When Mahib shot Herb the other men inside opened fire on the mass of students with their AK's. The children and teachers were still seated and struggled to get up. The chaos only created more of a panic allowing for more of the students to be gunned down. Millie and Tamia were in the back and dove to the ground and crawled for the door. Millie crawled as fast as she could until she noticed that Tamia wasn't at her side. She turned back and saw her friend struggling to catch up. Their eyes connected for a moment and then a bullet struck Tamia in the back. She collapsed and Millie crawled to her dying friend and held her close.

"Don't die." She sobbed, but her friend was already gone.

The Swat team rushed in and opened fire on the terrorists. Both sides opened fire on each other and both swat and terrorists began dying. Sissy stood to run but was dragged down by Nicolas. Unfortunately for others, they thought as Sissy had and were gunned down in the crossfire. The firing died down and soon all the terrorists lay dead amidst their victims.

The bus pulled up and Jim gasped at the sight of all the cops. Odd and Ulrich jumped off the bus and ran for the school, yelling for the others to wait behind and protect the kids. When they got to the police line they gasped at the sight of Herb's bloody body strewn across the entrance to the gymnasium.

"What happened?" Odd asked in shock.

"I…I don't know."

They snuck past the police tape and ran to the gymnasium. They stepped inside and suddenly wished they hadn't. All around were their peers, the kids they had grown up with for the past years, dead, wounded, and dying. The two caught movement to their left and ran to the girl collapsed on the ground.

"Millie…are you hurt?" Odd asked.

"No…but Tamia…she's….she's…"

Ulrich gently lifted the girl away from her friend's body and carried her outside. Odd looked around in horror. It looked like half the school had been gunned down. The survivors were limping out of the building and Odd stuck his hand out. His hand was grasped by a blood covered Sissy.

"Sissy!" Odd gasped.

She broke down in tears and clung to Odd. Nicolas who was beside her was no better off. Odd led them out and got them to the paramedics. He found Ulrich over by some bushes vomiting.

"Yeah I need to as well." He said as he unloaded his lunch on the ground.

"They will pay Odd, they will pay." Ulrich said through clenched teeth.

"I know, I know."

The two exhausted from the horrors they had seen went back to the bus to tell the others. They left the younger kids on the bus and took their friends and Jim outside where the younger children wouldn't hear. Odd and Ulrich described the horror and the others gasped. Yumi and Aelita started crying and Kasey just walked over and clung to Odd even though he was covered in blood. They all knew that Xana had suddenly become the least of their worries.

"Can we use the return to the past?" Yumi sobbed.

Jeremy shook his head, "Yumi they're already dead, it'd do them no good."

Jim ran ahead to help and the six stayed with the fifth graders trying to keep them from running to the school. Eventually the police came over and relieved the friends of their guard duty. They all walked to the dorms to grieve together.

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**Hey everyone, I know this chapter was, well lets face it, it was sad, violent, and just evil. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I promise not all the chapters will be so morbid. Please review so I know how you feel about the story so far. Thanks.**


	3. Sad Goodbyes

**The next chapter is up (: I wrote this chapter three different times and this is the best one I think. Please read and review.**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own CL.**

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Odd awoke to find Kasey beside him. He smiled, but soon his heart broke, he remembered why Kasey was there. It wasn't like the other times when they had fallen asleep together talking or kissing, it had been a night of fear and mourning. Odd gently slipped out of bed, being careful not to wake Kasey and stepped into the hall.

"What the hell?" Odd said as he saw most of the residents of the dorms in the process of moving out. Odd saw Jim standing farther down the hall and walked over to him.

"Jim, what's going on?"

Jim turned and sighed, "Most of the younger kids' parents have withdrawn them from the school...after everything that happened yesterday, and I really don't blame them."

"So does that mean the school is closing?"

"Not immediately, the government has been kind enough to offer some aid after the attack, but truthfully I don't see much of a point."

"What do you mean?"

Jim broke down and started to sob, Odd who had never seen Jim cry was shocked and rested a hand on the older man's shoulders. "What is it Jim?"

Jim wiped away the tears and looked Odd in the eyes, "I just got the final death toll."

Odd swallowed hard, "How bad is it sir?"

"They killed half of the students Odd, half of us, most of the teachers are dead too."

Odd's emotions were running wild; he had never felt such grief mixed with such infuriating hatred. "Jim we can't let these kind of people exist." Odd growled.

Jim nodded, "I don't know what we can do right now, but our time will come, our time will come."

Odd started to walk back to his room, but he stopped and walked back to Jim.

"Jim, I want to say thank you."

Jim looked confused, "What for?"

"If it wasn't for you asking us to help chaperone the trip we would probably be dead. We owe you a lot."

Jim smiled weakly, "It's just fate Odd, I'm glad it chose to keep you alive. I could use the company and well the help if you and your friends want to stay for a while, I mean, you all could have a job of sorts for a few months at least."

"Thanks Jim, I'll talk to them when they wake up, I'll see you later."

Jim watched Odd leave, and smiled, 'that boy sure has grown up over the years.'

Odd walked in to find Ulrich, Kasey and Yumi just waking up. He tried to give an encouraging smile, but they all read his body language.

"What is it Odd?" Kasey asked.

"A lot of the others are leaving, their parents are taking them away after the shooting. I…I don't blame them, but…what are we doing, are we staying?"

Kasey looked up sadly, "Odd, I have no home other than here, I'll go wherever you go."

Ulrich and Yumi nodded, and Yumi spoke up, "Odd, all we have left right now, is each other we can't lose that."

A knock at the door made them jump. Ulrich got up and opened the door. Jeremy and Aelita stood wearily in the doorway.

"Come on in you two." Ulrich said stepping aside.

The little room became crowded, but the friends didn't mind, for once the closeness made them feel safe.

"Well gang, we came to tell you that Aelita and I have decided to stay here for a while, we came to see about the rest of you?"

"We're all staying." Kasey said and the two smiled in relief.

"Actually, I have some good news," Odd said, "Jim said that we could work here, get paid and still live here, while things are sorted out."

Ulrich gave him a weird look and Odd just shook his head letting Ulrich know their plan was still on.

The others, no noticing the little dance of the eyes between the two, agreed to work and Odd ran to get Jim. A few minutes later the large man came bursting through the door with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes.

"Thank you, this means a lot, and…" Jim trailed off and the group just smiled and told Jim to grab a seat. Jim plopped down on the edge of the bed and looked at the others.

"Never thought I'd be in one of these planning meetings you always seemed to have."

The others smiled and for a moment the pain of yesterday wasn't so harsh.

"So how bad is it Jim?" Ulrich asked.

"It's bad my young friends," Jim sighed, "Half of the students were killed in the shooting, along with three fourths of the teaching staff. Half of the students that weren't killed have packed up or are packing up as we speak."

"So what do you need us to do?" Jeremy asked in his usual thoughtful manner.

"I need you to help me keep the younger kids in line, teach a little, and help them move on. I've been told that we can pay you teachers salaries for the job you do, and room and board, as well as food will be free ."

The friends all looked around and nodded; that's when Odd asked what was on everyone's mind.

"Jim, what teacher's did survive?"

Jim paused for a moment to gather his emotions again. "Not many I'm afraid, it's me, Mrs. Hertz didn't go to the assembly, apparently she was in the school office calling the police. Rosa the cook never goes to assembly's so she was fine, very heartbroken, but she's ok."

"What about Principal Delmas and the nurse?"

"The were both gunned down trying to save students…they…they died trying to save…" Jim couldn't go on and the questions stopped for the day.

They all agreed to meet for dinner in the cafeteria later that night. For now all of them would take time to collect their thoughts and prepare for the waves of grief the upcoming funerals were sure to bring.

Jeremy and Aelita left for Jeremy's room to talk and rest. Ulrich stepped into the hall to talk to Yumi and Kasey stayed in the room with Odd. Jim left to tell Rosa of the upcoming meal and to check on the forty or so remaining students.

"Kasey, I need to ask you something?"

"What is it Odd?"

Odd couldn't look his love in the eyes and this worried Kasey. "I…I think I'm going to join the army, and fight in this war."

"What!" Kasey screamed, "You can't, I mean what about me and the others, are you just going to…what if you got…no I can't think of it." She cried.

Hearing Kasey's outburst, Ulrich and Yumi came back into the room.

"Kasey? Odd? What's going on?" Ulrich asked.

Odd looked at his friend, "Have you told Yumi yet?"

"Told me what Ulrich?" Yumi asked abruptly.

Ulrich looked at Yumi with sad, lonely eyes, "Yumi, know that I love you."

"I know that, but what are you two going to do?"

"I'm going to join the army with Odd, we can't stand by after what happened and just sit around, we have to…we have to fight."

Yumi stared at her boyfriend in shock. "Do you know what could happen to you? Do you know what would happen to me if you were killed, think about it!"

"I have, and I'm going to prevent another attack from happening, another one that could kill you and all we cherish."

"But you are all I cherish." Yumi cried.

"That's why I must go, I love you too much to wait for the next attack that could rip you from my life."

The two girls looked at each other, both knowing that they'd never sway the minds of their lovers.

Kasey stood and wrapped Odd in a hug, "When will you leave?"

"I've been told that a military truck will pick us up in three days, that way we can attend the funerals."

The two girls, sat back down on the bed together, both looking at the man they loved. "Just be careful." Yumi said.

The boys sat down next to the girls and spent the rest of the afternoon comforting them.

Everyone was gathered for dinner that night. Odd and Ulrich were the last to come in, and instead of sitting down, they remained standing at the end of the table.

"Everyone, Jim, Rosa… Odd and I have an announcement to make."

All eyes turned towards the boys, and Kasey held on tightly to Yumi's hand, both trying to keep their emotions in check.

Odd spoke next, "Ulrich and I've come to the conclusion that we can't stand by and let the people that attack the innocent live unpunished. We are going to enlist in the army."

Aelita gasped and she looked up at Jeremy and Jeremy nodded to her. "I also have an announcement to make," the computer whiz said standing up and walking over to Odd and Ulrich. "I've been requested by the military to join one of their computer support and surveillance teams. I will be leaving in three days on the same truck as Odd and Ulrich."

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes until Jim spoke up. "I think that you are going into a very dangerous world. I'm going to pass some wisdom on to you that father told me before I joined the army. He said that when all hope seems lost, it is the courageous who step up to fight. I'm proud of you boys, just be careful alright?"

The boys nodded and the dinner was continued with little conversation. The students all went to their dorm rooms, all except Yumi and Ulrich. Ulrich was walking Yumi home.

"Ulrich, I…I don't know how I feel about you leaving, I mean what will happen to us?"

Ulrich stopped walking and took a hold of Yumi's hands, "Yumi, I will always love you, no matter what, just know that no matter what happens I love you."

"I love you too." Yumi cried and Ulrich wrapped her into a hug and kissed her long and hard. They broke for air and continued walking to Yumi's house.

"Do you want me to pick you up, before the funerals tomorrow?"

"I'd like that," she sighed.

The two soon came to Yumi's house and Ulrich walked her to the door.

"I love you, I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed her again and then headed down the steps and back to the school, just like he'd done hundreds of times before.

Like always, Yumi stood on the steps until Ulrich was out of sight and then went into the house, unlike the other times, she went to her room, buried her face in her pillow and cried.

The morning came sooner than anyone would have liked. Funerals were never pleasant to go too, but it also meant that the boys were another day closer to leaving. Kasey dressed herself and walked to Odd's room. She met Ulrich and Odd and they went to the car to go pick up Yumi.

"So Jeremy and Aelita are meeting us there?" Odd asked.

Kasey nodded, and the car soon slowed to a stop and Yumi got in the front seat to sit by Ulrich.

The day was overcast and threatening of rain. 'A fitting companion for the mood here' thought Jeremy. He gave Aelita's hand a reassuring squeeze and she rewarded him with a small smile. The others soon came and once again they were all gathered at a funeral.

"We are here today to remember those who had their lives cut short in the tragic…."

Yumi's mind began to wonder, she couldn't help but wonder if one day the casket would be filled by Ulrich's broken body. She looked away to try to clear her mind and her eyes caught Kasey's. 'She's thinking the same thing about Odd' Yumi thought.

Aelita looked around. 'I hope this is never me mourning Jeremy or the others' Aelita thought and she wiped away a tear.

The funeral ended and the friends passed by the families to offer their condolences. They came to Sissy who stared up at them with such sad eyes. Odd stepped forward and gave her a hug.

"Sissy, if you need anything, we're here for you."

Sissy mumbled a thanks and they left.

The next two days went quickly and it was time for everyone to head off to boot camp. It came too quickly for everyone and the morning was filled with emotional goodbyes. The biggest surprise of the morning was seeing Nicolas jump aboard the truck as well. The truck had rolled away, the boys waving their farewells to their loved ones. Now they sat in the back waiting out the long drive to the base.

"So do you think we'll see any action?" Odd asked the other three.

"I'm sure we'll see more than we want to." Ulrich replied.

The boys were silent for a while until Odd finally broke the somber mood.

"No matter what, we are family now, we are a brotherhood guys, we all come from the same place for the same reason. Let's do this together, put all differences aside, let's fight this war side by side."

Nicolas smiled, "I really wish I was joining your group for another reason, but I'm glad to have you as friends."

The all expressed their concerns and their hopes and for the few hours that they were on the road, a strong brotherhood formed between the four. The truck eventually came to a stop and the driver ordered the boys out. They jumped out to find themselves at the main training grounds.

"Wow, this is huge!" Odd said.

"You said it." Jeremy chimed in.

"Shut up! I'm Drill Sergeant Tinzo! Now gather your stuff and head to barracks 32!"

"Yes sir!" All four answered at once, and they rushed to gather their stuff.

"Umm….Sir?" Odd asked.

"What?" Tinzo yelled.

"Where is Barrack 32?"

The drill sergeant gave a rare smile, "Over there," He said pointing to a row of buildings, "And soldier."

"Yes Sir?"

"All of you! welcome to the army!"

With that the four took off in a light run to their barrack without a clue for what was to come next.

Yumi, Kasey, Aelita, and Sissy all sat in the living room of Yumi's house talking. They ,like the boys, shared their fears and their hopes. They were so worried about the boys, even Sissy was worried for Nicolas. They knew that all they could do was hope and pray.

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**Yeah I didn't realize how long it was until I looked at the word count. Anyways I hope you liked it, and to those ofyou who are hoping for more violent action and such instead of all this emotion stuff, well that will come in large amounts in a few chapters, still have emotional moments, just more action, so if there is anyone out there wandering what happened, justhang in there. LOL, now please review, I like reviews :**


	4. Old Foe New Friend

**Well the title of the chapter pretty much gives it away but hope you enjoy!**

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"WAKE UP!" Aelita screamed as she burst into Kasey's room.

Kasey jumped up and spun around a couple of times trying to find her attacker. Her eyes finally focused and she saw Aelita standing in her room, out of breath.

"What the hell?" The redhead muttered as she still fought to leave the fog of dreamland.

"Hurry, get dressed, Xana is attacking!"

The name Xana snapped Kasey out of whatever sleepiness remained. She threw some jeans and shirt on and was out the door. Aelita was ahead of her already calling Yumi's cell.

Yumi awoke to her phone ringing, "It better be important Ulrich." She muttered.

She answered the phone to hear a very distraught Aelita on the other end, shattering all hope she had of it being Ulrich.

"What? Slow down I can't understand you."

Aelita took a breathe, "Yumi…It's Xana he's attacking, meet at the factory now!"

Yumi jumped out of bed, dressed and ran out the door, leaving in such a hurry, she didn't notice she was being followed.

Kasey ran for the scanners, but froze, "Aelita, who's going to be the operator? You have to go to Lyoko to deactivate the tower."

"Damn." Aelita cursed herself for not having planned for that.

The doors opened and Yumi came running in dragging a familiar looking person behind her.

"Yumi is that…?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah, my brother, Hiroki, he followed me, but there was no time, I explained what I could on the way, he said he'll help."

The two girls just stared at the 16 year old for a moment and then snapped back into action.

"Ok, I'll stay, I think I can figure the controls out, Aelita, Yumi, Hiroki, you go to Lyoko."

Kasey took a seat and the three ran for the scanners.

Hiroki watched as his older sister and Aelita jumped into two of the scanners.

"Hiroki hurry up what's wrong?" Yumi chided her little brother.

"Is it safe?"

"Of course not, now hurry up."

Hiroki smiled at his sister and jumped in the center scanner.

Kasey took a few seconds longer than Jeremy usually did, but she soon scanned the three in and virtualized them.

Aelita and Yumi landed smoothly like they had so many times before. Hiroki on the other hand hit the ground face first with a loud thud. The two girls helped him up. Yumi and Aelita looked much the same in their lyokan form, except they were taller and older looking. Hiroki was the one that shocked everyone.

"Wow! Look at you!" Yumi said.

"What?" Hiroki asked and then he stopped and looked at himself. "Sweet!"

Hiroki was dressed as a ninja in all black, with gold Japanese lettering across the chest. He reached into his belt and found two shuriken.

"These I like." Hiroki laughed.

"Guys I know we all like admiring the latest in fashion, but we have a tower to deactivate."

The gang rushed off through the desert region and soon spotted the tower. A laser hit Hiroki in the chest picking him up off the ground and slamming him into a boulder.

"You didn't tell me it would sting Yumi." He growled at his sister.

"Well pay attention." She snapped back as the group was encircled by four crabs.

The opened fire and Yumi jumped in front of Aelita and started blocking lasers.

"Wow these things are cool looking." Hiroki said as he stared in wide-eyed wonder.

"Hiroki you might want to use those shuriken on the monsters and help your sister and Aelita out." Kasey ordered in frustration at the boys hesitation.

Hiroki let the ancient weapons fly and to everyone's surprise he hit two of the crabs. The explosion caught the other two crabs off guard and Yumi saw her chance. She threw both of her fans which sailed gracefully through the air cutting through the remaining crabs and landing back in her arm.

"So how many times have you done this?" Hiroki asked in amazement.

"Too many"

Aelita sprinted for the tower and soon entered in Lyoko on the screen. Kasey didn't hit the return to the past since no damage had been done, and she soon materialized everyone.

"And I always thought you were a boring, stay in her room and mope, sister."

Yumi punched Hiroki in the arm jokingly and he just laughed. The three met Kasey in the control room.

"Kasey good job, I think you are going to be are new operator for a while." Aelita said.

"I think I can get the hang of it pretty quickly, though I think we need a few more to help us fight Xana."

"Why we did fine?" Hiroki laughed.

Kasey smiled at the younger boys enthusiasm, "Yes, but it's almost never this easy, today was a good start for you, maybe next time Xana will take the training wheels off."

Hiroki just frowned.

"Who are you thinking?" Yumi asked.

"Well, Sissy maybe, and maybe Millie or another younger kid to help Hiroki when we're gone."

They all nodded and headed back to Kadic. For the first time in a few weeks, the four friends smiled and laughed. They still had a purpose here at Kadic.

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**So what did you think? I know it was short, but I realized I hadn't hada Xana attack and figured it was a good time to bring Hiroki into the picture. Thanks for reading and please review and I promise the next chapter will be much longer.**


	5. Can't Shoot From a Hole

**And I'm back already with another chapter. I know I'm pumping these out quickly, but I know you don't mind, and when I head back to college, well it's baseball season, I'll still write, but it will be about a chapter or so a week. I'll warn you before that happens though. (: Well now enjoy!**

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Odd, Ulrich, and the rest of the soldiers of Barrack 32 stumbled through the door, most covered in mud and grime.

"Wow, I'm so tired I think I may skip dinner to sleep." Odd said.

Ulrich looked over worried, and Odd laughed, "Ok, I'm not that tired, but close."

"Well we made it through the first week boys!" A tall brown haired guy said as he passed by Ulrich and Odd and collapsed on the bunk next to Ulrich's.

"Yeah, though the runs are starting to get easier don't you think, Chance?"

Chance laughed, "Speak for yourself, I think…uhhhh." Chance was cut off as Jesse tossed his helmet on Chances stomach.

Chance and Jesse were both from the United States and had been visiting France when the attacks had hit. They volunteered to join the French army and had been assigned to the same barrack as Odd and Ulrich and Nicolas. While Chance was tall, brown hair and brown eyes, his friend was the opposite. Jesse was on the shorter side, with blonde hair and blue eyes, both had become good friends with Ulrich and the others.

"So where's Nic?" Jesse asked, suddenly realizing that he was missing.

The door swung open and Nicolas stumbled through the door, looking more like a swamp monster than a human.

"I see we found the mud." Odd laughed.

"Very funny, let me change and lets get something to eat."

Nicolas headed to the showers and Chance laid down on his bed, "So who has a girl waiting for them back home?"

Odd, Ulrich and Jesse raised their hands, "Well, looks like I'm the only single guy here, dang."

"Why no girl?" Odd asked.

Before Chance could answer Jesse answered, "Well he's dated off and on, but he is the romantic kind, thinks that the perfect one is out there. Shoot that's all he talked about on this trip was how he hoped to bump into Mrs. Right in some nice European town."

Chance blushed and the others laughed. Nicolas came out of the bathroom absent the muddy clothes and dressed. They all headed to the mess hall.

"So do you think we will run into Jeremy?" Nicolas asked.

"No idea, I haven't seen him much since he was transferred." The three friends had to admit that Jeremy being transferred was the only bad thing about the army so far. The second day, Drill Sergeant Tinzo's radio had gone out during their first exercise and Jeremy had picked it up, fiddled around for a minute, and to everyone's amazement it was fixed. Tinzo had transferred him to tech support and Jeremy now spent most of his time learning how to repair and maintain everything electronic that the military used.

"Well cheer up, guys," Chance said seeing their long faces, "Smell that? It smells like something besides burnt, unrecognizable crud."

Odd wrapped his arm around Chances shoulder, "I knew there was a reason I liked you, you're a food connoisseur like myself."

The others groaned, and they all went in to grab a bite.

Jeremy was busy in a tent on the other side of the base staring at a radar screen that he had fixed a few minutes before. 'This is a pointless task, we're in the middle of France, is anyone really going too…' Jeremy's thoughts were cut short by a blip on the screen that was soon joined by many more blips.

"Uhh…Sir we got incoming!" Jeremy yelled.

The commander in the tent ran for the alarm and set it off; all over the base incoming sirens were blaring and the base erupted into orderly chaos, each soldier rushing for his/her weapon.

"Oh shit!" Chance yelled as he and the others jumped up from the table and sprinted for their barrack.

"We should have brought our guns with us." Odd groaned as he put on a burst of speed and rammed the door open.

"Guns, ammo, and helmets!" Ulrich yelled as they all grabbed their gear.

Nicolas was the last one out of the barrack, but he quickly caught up to the others as they sprinted across the base to face the approaching enemy.

"So much for training!" Jess muttered and the others chipped in a few complaints and then it hit.

The first mortar landed in the center of camp and the five friends dove into some fox holes that had been dug as practice earlier in the week. The shriek of a wounded man sent a chill down the spine of every man in the camp, and then the cry for a medic began. War had begun all too soon for the boys.

"Sir, what should I do?" Jeremy asked his commander.

"How many are their Jeremy?"

"Seven total sir, it looks like two mortars are firing on us, and the other five seem to be vehicles, I imagine a force of fifty men."

The commander smiled, "Very good Jeremy, stay and monitor let me know if anything changes."

"You think your going to kill someone by hiding in the holes boys, get out here and shoot."

Odd scampered out of the hole to come face to face with his drill sergeant.

"Sir?"

"I need you five up that hill and give suppressing fire, hold the line boys." With that Tinzo walked to another foxhole and started yelling at another group of soldiers.

"He sure is calm with all the explosions." Ulrich yelled.

"Yeah, now let's go see what we're facing." Nicolas said as he helped pull Chance out of the hole and they all sprinted up the hill.

"Sir there is something I don't exactly know what it is?" Jeremy yelled and his commander rushed over.

"Oh shit, how did they…" His words were cut off as a much larger explosion took out what used to be the mess hall.

"Damn!" Odd exclaimed as the lay prone on the hill. Fifty or so men were attacking along the perimeter of the base well protected by the covering fire of two tanks.

"What the hell!" Chance said as he opened fire on the closest group of enemy soldiers.

The others joined in and the enemy turned to return fire. Bullets whizzing around them, the five worked their way down the hill firing as they went. Chance saw a man poke his head out from behind a tree and Chance dropped him with a well placed shot to the head.

Ulrich, who was the only one who thought to grab a grenade, pulled the pin and heaved it into the hole that the men were taking cover in. The explosion was unlike anything they had witnessed before. No longer was it dirt that flew up, but pieces of weapons, clothing, and humans.

"Oh God!" Odd exclaimed at the sight as they all rushed forward and dove into the hole and started laying down fire for other soldiers who had also advanced past the hill to aid in the defense.

The attack lasted for fifteen minutes, but to the five friends huddled together in the hole firing as fast as they could, it seemed like an eternity. A fighter jet flew over and the tanks disappeared in a massive explosion. With the tanks gone, the enemy was overwhelmed and the battle was over.

"Hold your positions." The boys cringed when they heard that. The full on fog of war starting to fade away and they realized that they were covered in blood.

"Is anyone hit?" Jesse asked feeling his own chest checking for holes.

"No, the blood belongs to this hole's previous occupants."

Jesse looked at Ulrich and nodded, "It was a good toss man."

Ulrich nodded, but looked away, 'Killing is so much harder than I thought it would be, I didn't think there would be any regret.'

Ulrich's thoughts were interrupted, "Alright, boys fall back, and well done I like the way you came down that hill covering each other."

The five climbed out of the hole and saluted Tinzo.

"Sir…permission to speak?" Ulrich asked.

"Granted." Tinzo said, eyeing the boy curiously.

"Any idea on who these guys were?"

"The best we can figure is that they are terrorists in league with AMEA."

"Kind of well equipped, aren't they?" Chance asked.

"Yeah, we're going to look into that, I guess we have to start taking this more seriously. No one expected to fight a skirmish this far into France. Oh well, you did well, now go get rest, clean your gear, but be ready, we don't know if there are more out their, we've sent teams out in all directions to scout around."

The five friends slung their rifles over their shoulders and headed back to base. As they climbed the hill Odd had an idea.

"Hey are you still hungry?"

"Yeah, but look." Chance said as they crested the hill.

"Dang it!" Odd muttered as he saw a huge smoldering crater where the mess hall used to be.

"It's rations tonight!" Jesse said slapping the two on the back.

Odd and Chance gave him a 'Oh great' look and followed the others down the hill.

The wounded were being taken care of, all that was left to do was clean up and wait for training to begin again tomorrow. The five, had survived the first test. They all knew that their would be many more to come.

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**I hope you liked this chapter, just a small taste of what is to come. I thought a little skirmish was worthy to give the boys a first look at warfare. Now we just have to see what happens next. Please review, Thanks**


	6. Training

**Well as much as you all seem to be enjoying this story, I enjoy writing it. I was so happy about the reviews I got from the last chapter, that I wrote another chapter tonight. I know it's a first for me to put chapters out onback to back days, but I'm really psyched about the story and in a creative mood. Well I'll stop talking and let you read.**

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The news of the attack traveled fast and it soon reached the ears of Kasey and the others.

"Do you think it was Odd and Ulrich's base?" Millie asked Yumi and Kasey as the three girls sat around the TV.

"I think it is, I mean they said central France and…that's where they said they were going." Yumi said, choking on the words as they came out.

"All we can do is wait for news on casualties, I'm sure they'll come soon enough." Kasey finished and the girls sat in silence for a moment, Kasey and Yumi worried about their boyfriends, and Millie sat worrying about all her friends. Tamia's death still weighed heavily on her heart.

"I don't mean to change subjects," Millie squeaked, "but I was wondering why you called me up here?"

The two older girls smiled, both at Millie's unusual shyness and for a change in subject.

"Well we brought you here for two reasons," Yumi said. "First we wanted to let you know that we are your friends and that we are here for you. I know it is hard not having Tamia around."

Millie nodded, "It's been really hard, she was like a sister to me." Millie cried.

Kasey hugged her and wiped the younger girls tears away, "The other reason we brought you here is we have a secret to tell you."

Millie's eyes sparkled, "I love secrets, but something tells me I can't put this in the newspaper huh?"

Yumi laughed, "Yeah, this is just between you and us."

Kasey and Yumi spent most of the next thirty minutes explaining Lyoko, Xana and the battle they waged to Millie, who took it all in with wide-eyed amazement. When they finished, Yumi threw the question out there.

"So will you help us fight, we'd love to have you?

Millie sat with her mouth open until Kasey leaned forward and gently pushed her jaw shut. Millie snapped out of her amazement and looked at the two girls.

"You aren't kidding me are you? Cause I really don't feel like being made fun of."

"Not a joke Millie, this is serious, with the boys gone, we need your help." Yumi said.

Millie's face lit up in a huge smile, the first true smile since Tamia's death. "I'd love to help, what do I do?"

"Come on let's go see if we can scan you into the computer and get some training in." With that the three girls headed off to meet Aelita at the factory, who was already in the process of training a very stubborn Hiroki.

"Training, that is why you are all here. I know some of you performed very well in the skirmish yesterday. Well luck happens, but if you live by luck alone, she'll let you down, and in this business, when she leaves you…you leave this earth."

Nicolas, Ulrich, Odd, Jesse, and Chance all stood at attention with the rest of the forty soldiers of barrack 32 who were under the command of Drill Sergeant Tinzo.

"Today, I'm going to break you up into five squads of eight men each. You will train as a squad, and you will fight as a squad…and God willing you will survive this war…as a squad."

Tinzo started walking down the line numbering off everyone and stopped as he came to Odd and the others.

"You five are in one squad with these three." He said pointing for three others to join the group. "I liked the way you worked together yesterday, I don't usually let situations pick squads, but what the hell, it can't hurt. You have five minutes to get your gear and get to the firing range. MOVE OUT!"

The eight soldiers ran into the barrack and headed out on a light jog to the firing range. Arriving before everyone else, they decided that introductions were in order.

"Well," Odd said, "Us five already know each other, but I'm Odd, and it's nice to meet you." The other three smiled and the tallest extended his hand to Odd.

"I'm Ivan and these are my brothers, Artur and Vladimir."

The others introduced themselves and then Chance asked the question on everyone's mind.

"You three are Russian aren't you?"

Vladimir was smiling with pride, "Yes we are, we joined up after the attack on the school. One of our friends was killed when the terrorists did the same to the Russian school. We felt we must enter this war."

"Yeah that was our school," Odd said pointing to Ulrich and himself.

"My sympathies comrade." Artur said, and his brothers nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, and glad to have you." Ulrich said and the eight continued talking until Tinzo walked over to them.

"Alright, well I guess you are my international squad, but if you get the job done, who gives a shit. Right?"

"Uhh…Sir." Odd muttered.

"Here's the deal, each squad consists of a two man machine gun team, a two man sniper team and a four man, regular grunt team. You will all work together, but the roles will be different."

"I'm going to assume we are your snipers." Chance said nodding to Jesse.

"Yes, your previous training has made you expert shots, I think you would do well together."

"And the rest of us?" Odd asked.

"Well, Artur and Vladimir are going to carry the machine gun, and that leaves you other four as normal every day grunts, enjoy. You have thirty minutes to shoot, make good use of it, Vlad, Art, come with me. Chance and Jess, I imagine you would like to shoot long today?"

The two boys nodded and headed off to the long range. Ivan grabbed Chance's arm as they passed by, "What previous training is he talking of comrade?"

"Me and Jess were in training to join SWAT as snipers, we were on vacation when we joined the army here."

"Ah very good, train hard so you can shoot with great accuracy and protect all our asses."

"Will do, my friend." Chance laughed and the two headed to the snipers range.

The training done for the day, the girls headed back to the dorm to get some rest and Yumi was dragging a very tired Hiroki home.

"I'll see you tomorrow, call me if you here anything on Ulrich or the others." Yumi said worriedly.

Kasey, Aelita, and Millie all headed back to the dorm where they found Sissy sitting in front of the TV.

"Any news?" Aelita asked, scared of the answer.

"No, they said six soldiers were killed, they are about to list the names so the families can claim their bodies."

The girls sat in fear as the reporter began listing the names off.

"Pvt. John Demoines…

Pvt. Andrew Hastings…."

The girls held hands, silently praying to God they wouldn't hear a friend's name next.

"Pvt. Ashley Vinza…

Corp. Jeremy…ummm…Yakousky…"

Aelita was almost passed out after hearing Jeremy read off the list. Kasey shook her to get her full attention.

"It's not our Jeremy, our Jeremy's ok." Aelita let the stress and emotion drain from her body and laid down on the bed, small tears rolling down her cheeks.

"The final two soldiers who were killed in the attack are Pvt. Daniel Miller and Pvt. Henry Miller, both brothers who joined recently. Are prayers are with all the families of these brave men."

With that the new anchor signed off and the girls went to bed offering up another prayer to join the thousands they had already sent. 'I hope they will all be ok.' Millie thought as she walked to her room.

The day done, the boys tired and drained, walked to the makeshift mess hall, and stood in line for an undercooked meal.

"I'm going to start living off the land if the food doesn't improve around here." Chance laughed.

Odd smiled, "Yeah it isn't exactly my first choice either."

The group of friends grabbed their food and went over to some logs in the middle of the camp and sat down to eat.

"Mind if I join you?" All eight turned to see Jeremy standing there with a plate in hand.

"My goodness Jeremy, of course sit down." Ulrich said, and then turned and introduced Jeremy to the Russians.

"I was worried after I the attack, I couldn't find you until earlier this afternoon. I saw everyone at the firing range."

"So what have you been up to genius?" Odd asked through a bite of some nameless mush that he decided it was better to not guess what was in it.

"I'm working with the commander on a way to detect attacks earlier, we've set up another system to alert us farther from the base, should give us more warning."

They all ate, carrying on idle chatter until it was time to leave. Jeremy said his goodbyes and headed off to his barrack. The newly formed squad, grabbed their gear and walked back to Barrack 32.

"Ah home sweet home." Jesse laughed as they entered.

"It beats a lot of places." Artur said as he took off his boots and slid into the bunk across the room from Odd's.

The others soon followed suit and ten minutes later they were all trying to fall asleep. It was rather hard as they found out do to Odd's snoring. Ulrich grabbed his pillow as did Ivan who had crawled out of bed.

"One, two three." Ulrich whispered and the two brought their pillows full force down on Odd's head.

"Why you little…huh where am I?" Odd asked sleepily.

"Shut up and let us get to sleep before you start snoring." Ulrich laughed.

"Yeah, you are louder than the bears back home." Ivan laughed as he crawled back into bed.

Odd glared at both of them and then smiled, "Fine, I'll give you five minutes to fall asleep than I'm letting loose again."

Everyone took advantage and fell asleep. Odd smiled as he looked at the rest as their chests slowly rose up and down in regular intervals. 'I wonder how Kasey is doing?' Odd thought. He fell asleep hoping he would have another dream of her by his side in much happier times.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. More to come soon. Please review, the reviews really inspire me to write more. Many thanks to all of you who are faithfully reading and reviewing, and to the others, it isn't too late to start dropping your thoughts on me. (LOL) Thanks again.**


	7. Training for War!

**Next Chapter has arrived! Well no long speech here, just read and enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own CL, just this story and my OC's**

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A week later the squad was supposed to meet at the center of base and then go meet Tinzo for some mission.

"All I'm saying is that the Red Sox should have kept Johnny Damon."

"Yeah but if he wanted to go, do you really want him?"

"Yes!"

Ulrich walked over to Chance and Jesse, "So what are you guys up to?"

"Well we are having a very heated debate of much importance, and we need your help." Jesse said.

"What's up?"

Chance frowned at Jesse and then presented his case, "I believe that Johnny Damon should have stayed with the Red Sox and Jesse says it was best for him to leave, what do you say?"

"Umm…I don't know, we are talking baseball right?" Ulrich asked sheepishly.

"Great, I forgot we aren't in the U.S. it's all about soccer now." Chance muttered.

"I'd say he should've stayed."

The three turned to see Ivan standing under a tree a few feet away.

"You follow baseball?" Chance asked.

The Russian left the shade and sat down on an ammo crate next to the others, "Of course, you know ESPN isn't just broadcasted in the U.S.A."

"I learn something knew every day." Chance said a little embarrassed.

"Guys, come on we got a practice mission in ten minutes." Odd yelled running up followed closely by Artur and Vladimir.

"Where's Nic?" Ulrich asked.

"I don't know, maybe aliens abducted him."

"Odd seriously we need to find him and get going."

Ulrich felt a finger tap him on the shoulder and turned to see Nicolas standing right behind him.

"Jeez, you really took that stealthy stuff to heart didn't you?" Ulrich exclaimed jumping back.

Everyone laughed and then hustled off to their practice mission; it was time to get serious.

"Ah glad everyone could make it." Tinzo said sarcastically as the squad arrived.

The boys came to attention in front of their drill sergeant, and Tinzo continued.

"This is the mission, you will be tasked with clearing a bunker. It is solely up to you on how you act, and you will be using live rounds, so don't shoot each other."

"Sir?" Nicolas asked.

"Yes?"

"What are we shooting?"

Tinzo smiled, "There are human like targets inside, robotic figures to be precise. They are programmed to respond as close to a soldier as possible, so don't think you can just walk in and shoot."

"Are they shooting at us?" Odd asked, a little worried about the answer.

"Yes they are, not bullets, but a very powerful tranquilizer, that can puncture your vests, so I recommend not getting hit."

The squad nodded and headed to the top of the hill to plan their assault on the bunker that was positioned at the bottom.

"A frontal assault is no good, look at the gun emplacements, we have to go through the side." Ulrich stated.

"I agree, how should we do this? I'm thinking two man teams from both sides, each breaks to his left when he enters the room we won't be firing at each other than." Ivan said.

The others nodded in agreement.

"And what do we do?" Chance asked checking the safety on his sniper rifle.

"You pick off anything that moves, that's not us." Odd said cheerfully.

"And us?" The Russian brothers said at once, as they double-checked their machine gun.

"Uhh…I don't know?" Ulrich said.

Artur frowned and then had a thought, "What if we stay right here and unload on the front of the bunker as you go in, it will distract them from you and give you a better chance."

That said, Artur and Vlad, set the machine gun up and everyone else headed off quietly, out of site of the bunker, to their positions. Chance and Jesse took up spots a hundred yards on either side of the bunker, both with clear lines of fire. Nicolas and Ivan went to the right and Ulrich and Odd went to the left.

Once everyone was in position, Ulrich looked over at Odd, "Ok, shoot straight, and no hero stuff, ok?" Odd flashed a mischievous grin and Ulrich sighed and gave a thumbs up to Vlad.

"Ok brother, let's cut loose." Vlad said, and Artur squeezed the trigger emptying several hundred rounds into the front of the bunker.

At the sound of the first shot, both side entrances to the bunker exploded and the four soldiers rushed in to find it empty.

"What the heck?" Odd said.

"Guys, we have what looks like mechanical men coming your way, either get out of their or prepare to defend." Chance said as he saw what looked like statues on wheels rolling across the field towards the bunker.

"Roger that, we can't get out, they would shoot us easily, take your shots." Ulrich muttered over the radio.

Chance and Jesse didn't wait any longer, and two loud shots rang out. Ulrich sneaked a quick glance through a slit and saw five mechanicals still rolling. Two more blew up with direct hits from the snipers.

"Ok guys, we can go now!" Ulrich said and the four rushed out the door and towards the remaining three bots. They were taken down with precision shooting.

"All clear!" Ulrich shouted.

A shot rang out and the four dropped to the ground crawling for the bunker.

"I said clear!" Ulrich shouted.

"I know, but I had to take the one that got Vlad." Jesse said over the radio.

"What do you mean?"

"One mechanical snuck up on the machine gun, and got a shot off at Vlad, I took him out before he shot Artur."

"Damn, my foolish brothers didn't watch their backs, we should have thought of that." Ivan said in disgust.

The four stood up and along with the snipers made their way to the hill they started on. When they got there they found Artur in a very foul mood as he looked at the machine that had shot the dart into Vladimir's leg.

"I should have seen him." Artur said as Ivan bent down and threw Vlad's unconscious body over his back.

"Yes you should have, but that is why we train now, and live later." Drill Sergeant Tinzo said walking up behind them.

Ivan laid his sleeping brother back on the grass and stood at attention.

"At ease men, I do have to compliment you on one thing. You are the only squad that placed snipers to cover you. Most squads saw that it was a bunker and sent six men in with only a machine gun to cover. Good work, and tell Vlad the good news when he wakes up."

"What good news?" Odd asked.

Tinzo smiled a true smile, one full of pride. "You have completed training, you have a three day leave as of tomorrow to visit friends or family."

The boys cheered and headed to their barrack.

"A truck will pick you up in the morning!" Tinzo yelled after the squad. "Oh and one more thing."

The group stopped and turned to look at their commander. "You might want to take Vlad with you." Tinzo yelled pointing at the unconscious soldier at his feet.

"Ooops!" Nicolas laughed and they all sprinted up the hill and grabbed Vlad and his gear. They soon got Vlad in bed and were excited about the chance to go home.

"I can't wait to see Kasey!" Odd laughed.

"I know, it seems like forever since I've seen Yumi, I can't wait."

Ulrich looked over and saw Nicolas looked just as eager to return to Kadic. Then Ulrich noticed the others, Chance and Jesse were talking quietly off to the side and Ivan was still trying to convince Artur that Vlad would not be knocked out forever.

"Hey guys, what are you going to do?"

The others turned to face Odd and Ulrich and Jesse answered for everyone, "I guess stay here, we can't go home, it's too far."

Odd walked over to the two Americans, "No my friends you two are coming home with us, same for you three." He said turning to Ivan and his brothers.

"You sure?" Jesse asked, "I don't want to be a bother."

"It's not a problem, there's plenty of room for you at the school, and I know my friends would love to meet you all." Ulrich said and the morale of the group lifted. A few hours later Vladimir woke up and everything was explained to him. He was pretty mad at himself for getting shot, but after he was told it was in the leg, he relaxed.

"I could have survived that." He said, and the others smiled.

"Yeah, just don't make a habit out of getting hit, ok?" Odd said tossing a bottle of Tylenol over to Vlad.

"Sure thing."

Yumi heard her cell phone ring and answered it, "Hello?"

The voice on the other end took her breath away for a moment. "Yumi it's me."

"Ulrich! Oh my goodness, is everything alright?"

"It's better than that, I have good news."

"What is it? Did you finish training?"

"Yeah, but it gets better, we get to come visit you and the others for three days."

Tears began streaming down Yumi's face, she would soon be in Ulrich's arms. The last three weeks had gone by way too slow. She couldn't wait to see him.

"That's great! I can't wait to see you."

"I just need you to do one thing." Ulrich said.

"Yeah what is it?"

"Tell the others for us and tell Kasey for Odd, we only get one phone call and…well they decided I could make this one."

"I will Ulrich, I will, I'll see you soon. I love you."

Ulrich couldn't hold back the goofy smile that lit up his face when he heard Yumi say that. "I love you too." He said and then he hung up the phone. Odd came walking out of the restroom and saw the look on Ulrich's face.

"She told you she loved you didn't she?"

"Yeah, why?" Ulrich asked.

"Cause you got that idiotic grin on your face again." Odd laughed and Ulrich jumped up and chased Odd around the barrack, while the others sat back and enjoyed the show. Eventually they got tired and everyone left to eat dinner. They ate quickly and went back to their barrack to pack and go to sleep.

'I'm going home' thought Odd as he fell asleep. A few minutes later he was woken up by a pillow to the face.

"What?"

"You got to let us go to sleep first man, we fall asleep with your snoring." Chance said as he held his pillow high above Odd ready to strike again.

"Fine, go get your precious sleep." Odd groaned and he once again waited a few minutes for everyone to fall asleep.

He lay back down and had trouble falling asleep because of his excitement about going home.

'Come on Odd don't stay up all night.' Soon Odd grew tired and fell asleep.

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**Yep, the boys are going home! I hope you like it, and I think I can have some fun with the other squad members going back with them. Please read and review, I like it when I get reviews.**


	8. Home Sweet Home

**Well I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the next chapter is here and it's pretty long, so enjoy. The bad news is that I'm going back to college in two days and that will greatly restrict writing time. I will update when I can, but it will most likely be a chapter every week or 10 days. Sorry, but I will make sure to keep the story going, don't worry. Now enjoy! Oh quick note, remember Millie is 16 almost 17 in this story, you'll understand as you read.**

* * *

Odd and the others were woken up by a loud truck horn blasting outside. The squad all assembled their bags and tossed them on the truck and then one by one hopped on.

"I guess we aren't eating breakfast for a while huh?" Odd said looking a little ragged without eating his normal five eggs, and six pieces of bacon.

As the truck pulled out of the base and turned on to the main road that led back to Kadic, Chance began digging through his bag.

"What are you looking for?" Ulrich asked.

"Wait…Wait…Ah here we go!" Chance said pulling out one of the small grills they used in the field for cooking. "Now if you would all tell me how you like your eggs." He said reaching in and pulling out a carton of two dozen eggs.

"You deserve a medal and a promotion!" Odd said excitedly.

The others were pretty happy to have something to eat and they expressed their thanks.

"No problem, couldn't have the squad arriving hungry and in a bad mood, I mean what kind of entrance is that?"

Jesse rolled his eyes and the others laughed. Suddenly the truck stopped and the driver got out and walked to the back where the guys were sitting.

"I have some bad news, we'll be delayed for about thirty minutes, another soldier is going the same way and they're driving him out here to save a second trip. We have to wait."

With that the driver jumped into the back of the truck and got a few eggs for himself and promptly shared some of the coffee he had with the others.

"So who is it that we are waiting on?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh they said it's some guy who works in one of the tech units."

"Oh my gosh, Odd I bet it's Jeremy, I forgot he wasn't with us."

Sure enough twenty minutes later a jeep appeared speeding towards the road. It slid to a stop and the blonde headed computer whiz jumped out and tossed his bag up to the others. Ivan reached down and pulled the scrawny teen up with one arm.

"Welcome friend, we have breakfast." Ivan laughed and Jeremy's eyes lit up at the sight of the little buffet that had formed in the truck.

"Well you guys sure know how to travel."

The driver jumped back behind the wheel and they were soon on the road again.

At Kadic things were not so calm.

"How do I look, do I look ok?" Kasey was asking Yumi desperately trying to fix her hair in the mirror.

Yumi grabbed Kasey's shoulders, "Listen, you need to relax girl, Odd loves you to death, he thinks you're the most beautiful woman ever, besides, you look find."

"Thanks, I'm just…I don't know why, I'm nervous."

"Me too, now let's go see how the others are doing."

Yumi entered Sissy's room to find an even more chaotic situation. Millie was desperately trying to calm the older girl down.

"Seriously you look find Sissy?"

"But Millie I haven't got a manicure and my hair is a little too long and…"

Yumi walked over and shook Sissy lightly, "Why are you so nervous?"

"I…I don't know…well I want to look good for Nicolas."

The other three girls giggled and smiled. Millie let out a sigh, "That's so cool!"

"I…I just hope he's glad to see me." Sissy said with worried eyes.

"I'm sure he will be." Kasey said

They looked out the window and saw an army truck slowly pulling in.

"Oh my gosh their here, how do I look?"

The three girls looked at Yumi and laughed.

"What?" Yumi asked offended.

"It's just you were the one saying to relax it'll be fine, nothing to worry about."

Yumi was quiet for a moment and then started laughing, and the others joined her as they ran down the stairs to meet the boys.

The army truck pulled up in front of the dorms and the squad piled out tossing their gear on the ground.

"So where is everyone?" Jesse asked, looking at Odd and Ulrich.

"Umm…I." Ulrich never finished, because the door to the dorm opened and Yumi rushed the twenty yards to Ulrich and wrapped him up in a hug and kissed him.

Kasey and Sissy were close behind and Kasey almost tackled Odd.

"It's good to see you too." Odd laughed as he held Kasey close.

Sissy walked over to Nic and gave him a hug, "It's good to see you Nicolas, how are you?"

Nic smiled, "I'm doing good." He grabbed Sissy's hand and led her away from the group so they could have some time to talk.

Aelita ran over to Jeremy and kissed him on the cheek.

"Wow! Now why couldn't we have gone to a school like this?" Chance asked Jesse.

"Cause you got both of us thrown into the correctional school with that prank."

"Oh…yeah, my bad, I didn't know the principal was allergic to bees." Chance muttered and then looked up to see another beautiful girl walking their way.

"I'm Millie, welcome to Kadic, I'll show you to your rooms if you like." Millie said as she walked over to the five soldiers standing off to the side.

"Why thank you, we'd love to get cleaned up and get some rest." Chance said answering before anyone else could say anything.

Millie turned away, both to head back to the dorm and to hide her blushing. The five followed her into the dorms and she pointed them to their rooms. Each had his own room since there were plenty to spare.

Millie led Chance to his room last, "Umm…if you need anything, I and the others are down the hall."

Chance smiled, "Thanks again, maybe I'll see you around?"

Millie smiled, "Maybe." And with that she walked to her room leaving Chance to his thoughts.

'She's cute.' Chance thought. 'I always wanted to meet a girl on this trip, but…oh shut up Chance you're thinking too much.' With those thoughts Chance entered his room and plopped on the bed.

Ivan jumped at the knock at his door. He opened it to find an older man about his size standing at the door.

"Umm…can I help you?" Ivan asked a little cautiously.

"Yes you can, I'm Jim, I was wondering if you wanted to get your brothers and play some two on two basketball."

Ivan shook hands with Jim and called his brothers out of their rooms. The four went down to the gym and played basketball for a few hours.

Yumi sat next to Ulrich on a bench in the park. Ulrich had his armed wrapped around her and he leaned in for another kiss. They broke the kiss after a while and Yumi smiled with sad eyes up at her love.

"So do you think you will see much fighting?"

Ulrich sighed, he knew he couldn't avoid the question forever so he hugged Yumi tighter and answered. "I think we will see a lot of fighting before the war is over, I mean we didn't even get out of training before we fought our first skirmish."

Yumi cringed at the answer. She was desperately worried about losing Ulrich. It was the same fear that had crept over her the numerous times that one of them had almost been killed over the years fighting Xana.

"I'm scared for you Ulrich, I'm worried I may lose you."

Ulrich gently wiped the tear from her eye, "Don't worry, we are the best squad there is and Odd and I'll look after each other. We will make it back fine, I promise."

"Don't break that promise." Yumi said on the verge of tears.

"I won't, now lets talk about something a little more pleasant ok?"

Yumi nodded and Yumi told Ulrich of the few Xana attacks since he'd been gone and about Hiroki and Millie joining the team. It soon grew dark and they headed in for dinner.

Kasey and Odd were sitting under a tree on the other side of the park from Yumi and Ulrich. Odd gently stroked Kasey's hair as she laid with her head on his leg, staring up at him.

"So do you think you'll be ok? I mean make it through the war and all."

Odd gave a curious look at Kasey and bent down to kiss her. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, well except to battle and then I'll not go anywhere and come back………. What I'm trying to say is I'll be fine." Odd finally spat out.

Kasey laughed, "You don't sound too confident for the one always trying to save the world."

"I'm always nervous around you, it's your beauty that throws my mind off." Odd said smiling.

"Oh don't use that charm on me." Kasey laughed. "Odd, seriously do think you will be ok?"

"Listen, nothing will stop me from coming back to you. I love you too much to let anything stop me from seeing you again."

Odd's answer seemed to sit well with Kasey and they continued sitting there until they had to go in because Odd's stomach was growling way too loudly for it to be a romantic peaceful spot any longer.

"I…I have something to tell you, I think I love you."

Nicolas stared in shock at Sissy as they sat by a fountain in the middle of campus.

"Mmmmm….me?" Nicolas asked looking around to make sure Ulrich or someone else hadn't walked up behind them.

"Yes, Nic, I love you. I finally realized that you have been the only true friend to me over the years and I…I love you now."

Nic just sat in silence letting the truth wash over him like a refreshing breeze.

"Nic? I'm sorry I didn't mean too…"

Nic cut Sissy off, "No no no, I'm not mad, I'm just shocked beyond words, and I'm extremely happy, cause I love you too, always have, even when you tried to run me and Herb off."

The two hugged and eventually headed in for dinner.

"I'm so worried about you." Aelita cried as she clung to Jeremy as if she was scared to let him go.

"Aelita…I'm…I'm going to be ok." Jeremy stuttered, shocked at how worried Aelita was. "Trust me, I'm more worried about you fighting Xana than I am about me going to war, I'm usually farther behind the battle than most, I should be safe."

"I'm just worried. I love you and don't want anything to happen."

"All you can do is pray for us, we will be fine don't worry, I can't stand to think about you upset. Now let's go get something to eat before Odd eats everything."

Aelita laughed and soon was her usual cheerful self, much to Jeremy's relief.

Chance heard a knock at his door and jumped up to open it, but was disappointed to see Jesse.

"Oh now don't be mad, because I'm not this high with red hair and live down the hall, not next door." Jesse said holding his hand about the height of Millie.

"Shut up! Are you crazy!" Chance said dragging Jesse inside. "Why'd you knock, I was asleep."

"I knocked because it's time for dinner, come on."

"Go ahead, I'll be there in a minute."

"Waiting on someone?" Jesse teased.

Chance rolled his eyes and shut the door. He threw on a nicer shirt and checked his hair in the mirror. 'Ok I'm ready.'

Chance walked out the door and headed to what he thought was the cafeteria.

"Hey…" Millie struggled to remember the guys name, "…Chance, the cafeteria is this way?" She yelled seeing Chance walking off towards the science labs.

Chance turned around a little embarrassed and walked over to Millie. "Thanks, so where was I trying to eat at?"

"The science labs, you would have been sorely disappointed with the menu." Millie laughed.

The two walked to the cafeteria talking idly about their pasts and getting acquainted. When they walked in Jesse gave Chance a, 'I told you' look, but Chance chose to ignore it. He took a seat between Jesse and Millie. Chance and Millie were the last to arrive. Chance looked around, all the couples were seated together and it seemed like Ivan and Jim were still arguing with Artur and Vladimir about the final score of the basketball game.

"And here we go!" The cafeteria lady said bringing out the food.

"Oh spaghetti and meatballs! I owe you big!" Odd cheered.

Everyone ate, swapping stories and enjoying the moment when Kasey's cell phone started beeping. Yumi looked at her and she mouthed 'Xana' to her. 'Oh great!' thought Yumi, 'how are we going to get away without everyone knowing?'

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**Well I hope you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think. Remeber the next update may be a little longer due to college and baseball practice, but don't despair, it will come.**


	9. Secret Revealed

**Hey everyone, the good news is the hotel I'm in at the moment has internet, thus I had spare time and wrote another chapter. I hope you all enjoy.**

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Yumi looked worried as ever, she didn't have a clue on how to get out of the dinner without the others noticing, plus they had to at least get Aelita to go with them.

"I'm not feeling well." Kasey said putting her napkin to her mouth and standing up. Yumi saw her chance and grabbed Aelita.

"Excuse us, we'll make sure she's ok."

"Is she going to be alright?" Artur asked, looking at Odd.

"Yeah, she said she's been fighting the flu," Odd covered quickly, "I'll go double check." He said rushing off to the factory.

The two American's started wondering what was going on. Chance leaned over to Millie, "I think something's up, do you know about this?"

Millie froze, she knew she couldn't tell Chance, but he was so nice and she thought she could trust him. 'No I can't tell him.'

"I think she's just sick, why do you ask?"

Chance looked over at Jesse who nodded, they both knew something was up. Chance was about to ask again when a giant mechanical crab burst threw the cafeteria door and opened fire with its laser.

"What the hell is that?" Chance yelled as he tipped the table over, dragging himself and Millie behind it.

"Ok, well…ummm…there's more to all of us than what I've told you so far.

"Obviously!" Chance said as another blast caught Ivan in the shoulder as he dove behind the serving line.

Artur ran to his brother who groaned that he was ok. The two hunkered down trying to figure out what to do.

"The only way to kill these things is to jab something into that eyelike symbol on top."

"You know this how?" Chance asked as his mind raced for a logical reason that he was being shot at by an overgrown crab.

"I'll explain later, I need to get to the factory."

"Alright, you go and I'll…" Chance was cut off as Ulrich ran towards the crab. He jumped up off the table and landed on the crab. The crab shook viciously trying to rid himself of the human pest, but Ulrich stabbed down with the steak knife he had and jumped off.

"Now what?" Jesse yelled, and the crab exploded sending pieces flying in all directions, causing Jesse to duck back behind the table for cover.

"We go to the factory." Ulrich yelled, and everyone except Jim and the cafeteria lady followed. They were busy hiding in a closet and still didn't know that it was safe.

The small group arrived at the factory in no time, and they all crammed into the elevator.

"When this is all done you have to explain yourself." Vladimir said.

Ulrich nodded and smiled at their gasps when the door opened and they saw Kasey sitting in the operator's chair.

Jeremy rushed over and Kasey jumped out and ran for the scanner with Millie close behind.

"Odd, Yumi, Aelita, how are you holding up?"

"Jeremy?" Yumi asked in surprise as another three hornets dove towards her.

"Yeah, everyone's here, so we have some explaining to do later."

"Never mind that, we need help, Odd has been hit more times than I can count, and I'm not doing too well either."

Jeremy groaned and quickly scanned Kasey and Millie in. The two dropped into the mountain region just as a blast from a block hit Odd and he disappeared.

"Jeremy we need help now!" Yumi yelled at the blonde operator.

The three hornets turned and Yumi dodged and deflected their lasers, but didn't notice the crab that was charging its laser to her side. She turned at the last moment and cringed. The crab never got the shot off as an arrow streaked across the sky and impaled the crab. Yumi dove to the side as it exploded.

"Just in time!" Yumi said smiling as the other two girls rushed forward.

Everyone stood behind Jeremy watching the screen hoping that nothing would go wrong. Their hope was shattered as they saw red dots form all around the girls.

"Jeremy!" Kasey screamed, "We need more help, we won't last long, and Aelita will be toast."

Ulrich ran for the scanner closely followed by Chance.

Ulrich turned around, "You don't have to come, it could be dangerous."

"I'm in the French army, as a volunteer, a little danger doesn't worry me."

Ulrich smiled and pointed at one of the scanners, "Hop in."

Chance gave his smug smile and jumped in, the doors closed and his face changed to a look of worry. He was lifted into the air as he was scanned and virtualized, and the last thing the group in the control room heard before he disappeared to lyoko was a muttered, 'Shit.'

Chance came down hard landing on his knees instead of his feet. Ulrich gave him a hand and the two rushed off towards the others.

"Oh my God!" Chance said as he saw a swarm of hornets attacking Yumi, Kasey and Millie. Ulrich rushed forward and helped block, but it wasn't good enough, Yumi took two shots to the chest and disappeared. Millie was hit and thrown back against a boulder.

Chance rushed forward and helped her up off the ground.

"Aelita you have a small opening before they come around for another pass, go!"

Aelita jumped out of hiding and ran for the tower, Ulrich close behind. Kasey was running backwards firing arrows at blocks and crabs as fast as she could. Two blocks fired at the same time and caught her in the head from both sides. She was materialized and Odd stood outside the scanner to greet her.

Millie smiled at the sight of Chance, "So I guess this is what you look like in the virtual world huh?"

Chance looked confused until he looked at himself. He was covered with a dull gray armor (think clone trooper armor in star wars without the helmet) from his boots to his shoulders. Strapped to his back was a large rifle with a scope.

"Well you aren't exactly the same either." Millie looked at herself and grinned. She liked her lyoko look. Millie's lyoko powers had turned out quite amazing. She wore regular looking clothes, but her whole outfit and her tended to blend in with the environment when things got bad. She could almost become invisible.

"Guys cover the others." Jeremy yelled breaking the two out of their trance.

Chance ran to a boulder and sighted in on the hornets swooping down. 'Just like training' he told himself. He pulled the trigger and a laser shot out with deadly accuracy, destroying one of the ten hornets. He sighted in on another and smiled as his laser had the same deadly affect. He went to shoot another, and a blast caught him in the side. He turned to see Millie fade into the background. She must have drawn her guns and opened up on a crab because a barrage of lasers leapt out at the crab destroying it.

"Sorry, I…I should have seen him." Millie said, reappearing next to Chance.

"It's cool." Chance said rubbing his side.

Aelita made it to the tower and deactivated it before the hornets got any more shots off at Ulrich. The binary code crumbled and a white light appeared. Jeremy hit the return to the past and they all disappeared in the light.

"So explain yourself?" Vladimir said as the truck pulled into Kadic.

Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy gave the others a quick rundown of what happened, along with an explanation of Xana and Aelita.

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that your girlfriend is a computer program?"

Jeremy smiled, "no she's human, just…she was trapped in a computer."

The truck pulled to a stop and Jeremy remembered on last important piece of information.

"Guys, everyone else will remember what happened except those like Jim who weren't with us. So Ivan, remember that to him you have never met and you never played basketball."

Chance laughed, "This is too weird for me, I'm just going to enjoy the next two days."

"Three days." Odd corrected, "We went back in the past remember, we still have three days."

"I'm confused."

"Not hard to do." Jesse laughed and dodged a dirt clod that Chance threw.

The girls came out of the building again and all gave their hugs and kisses. It wasn't as dramatic since this was the second go around. The main difference was that Millie walked right up to Chance and gave him a hug.

"Glad you made it back." She said.

Chance smiled, "I thought I'd try one more day and see if I could avoid the giant crab this time."

Millie smiled and led them all back to their previous rooms.

Nic and Sissy walked away again, but this time they had more to talk about.

"I never thought that was what they'd been doing all this time." Sissy confessed.

"Yeah I know it's pretty crazy stuff."

"I'm going to help them when you guys go back. I…I was asked to join so I think I can help, should be interesting at least."

Nicolas laughed, "It's what you always wanted right?"

"Yeah, I just wish you could stay with us."

"I'll be back soon enough."

The next three days went by fast and no one was ready to head back to base. Most everyone said their emotional goodbyes. The guys all jumped into the truck that had come for them and waved one last time.

"Where's Chance?" Jesse asked.

"There he is!" Odd laughed as the truck pulled away.

Chance was seen giving Millie a goodbye kiss and then sprinting towards the truck.

"Wait, dang it!"

The driver slowed down and Chance jumped up into the back and was dragged in by his comrades.

"Just had to give her a kiss?" Jesse teased.

"Yeah, I did, is that ok with you?" Chance said a little defensively.

The others laughed and Chance soon lightened up. They were heading back to war. They all hoped that they would one day return, but they knew the chance of all of them making it back was slim.

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**Well, I feel it may have been a little rushed but I hope you enjoyed it. Please review, I want to thank everyone who has faithfully read and reviewed thus far. Thank you all very much. That's all for now.**


	10. Frontline

**Ok so I said it would be a week and it is another three days. I'm in to this story way too much to sit back and let it slow down. I may slow down later, but I've found some spare time after practices when all of us just crash, writing relaxes my mind. Well hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Code Lyoko, Spain or France**

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"Guys, I have a question I need to ask you." Jeremy said when the truck was about twenty minutes away from the base.

"What is it?" Odd asked excited for something to cut into the boredom of the trip back.

"Uhh…I think I'm going to ask Aelita to marry me the next time I see her."

"Dude that's awesome!" Odd practically yelled hopping up and down with excitement.

"So you're going to marry a computer program?" Artur asked.

Jeremy sighed, "Artur, she's real, just like you and me, she is human."

"But she was a computer program?"

"I…I think she was a human and trapped there, but I have no way of knowing for sure." Jeremy said starting to look a little sad.

"Well whether she's fully human or not, she's the girl for you. You should do it!" Ulrich said.

With the mood lightened the truck drove on and eventually reached the base. The truck hadn't even stopped before Tinzo was next to the truck giving orders.

"I need Jeremy to come with me, the rest of you have been designated Omega Squad. Load your gear from your barracks on this truck, you are going to the front."

Jeremy jumped out and ran after Tinzo. He gave one last look over his shoulder and waved a quick goodbye to the others.

"We have ten minutes to be on the road again, go go go!" The truck driver said jumping out of the truck and grabbing a can of gasoline to refuel the truck.

Omega squad dove over the sides of the truck and rushed the barrack. In ten minutes they had loaded all of their ammo, guns, explosives, and rations and were back on the road.

"So where is the front?" Odd asked the others who were now packed in tightly among the gear.

"No idea, it could be five hours or five days, no clue."

"I know!" Ulrich said and everyone turned their attention from Chance to Ulrich.

"We're going to the French/Spanish border. AMEA has taken over Spain and is trying to cross into France. We are being sent as the first wave to stop the approaching forces."

The others sat in stunned silence. Each man wondering if he would ever see home again.

"How do you know?" Odd asked.

"Jeremy told me in a text message."

"But I thought…" Odd was cut off by his friend.

"They were supposed to take our phones, but Jeremy hid ours and he gave me mine when we went home to Kadic. He said he thinks that he might be able to give us intel that we may not have otherwise."

"Well let's hope so." The truck drove on, each passing minute bringing the eight men closer to peril.

* * *

"I think I'm in love."

The girls all turned and looked at Millie.

"You just met him Millie, are you sure?" Yumi asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure, Chance is so nice." Millie sighed.

"Well you chose well." Kasey said with a smile.

Millie blushed, and they all walked over to the factory for more training.

* * *

After a stop that night the truck arrived at its destination the next morning and the weary soldiers grabbed their gear and headed to find the command post. Another soldier pointed them toward a tent in the middle of what seemed like endless foxholes.

Ulrich went inside and found the commander. "Sir, Omega Squad reporting in." Ulrich said coming to attention.

The commander returned Ulrich's salute. "Good to see you, my name is Colonel Hempert. I need you to set up a mile to the west, it's our weakest point and your machine gun is sorely needed to hold the line."

"Sir?"

"Yes son?"

"What are we likely to face?"

"As far as we can tell, they have tanks and jeeps, but no air support. Artillery rains down on us on occasion, so dig your foxholes deep."

"Yes sir." With that Ulrich stepped out and briefed the squad. They headed out and soon arrived at their designated spot.

"Looks lonely." Odd commented.

"Yeah, no one around, forces must be spread pretty thin." Chance commented.

"So how we doing this?" Ivan asked no one in particular.

"The commander said he needed the machine gun the most, so I say we set up to protect it, since it will be the biggest target."

"Great, that's good news." Artur muttered.

"I say we dig in and set up in those bushes over there, give us good cover." Vladimir said pointing to a group of bushes on a small rise.

"Jesse and I can set up in these trees a little farther behind us. The clearing they have to cross to get to us should give us some good shots." Chance said.

Ulrich frowned, "I like the idea for the machine gun, but they said artillery comes in pretty often, I don't want you in the trees when we come under attack."

Odd was looking around when he noticed an outcropping of rocks on a hill about thirty yards behind them. "How about there." He asked pointing to the rocks.

"That should work well, not perfect, but not bad." Jesse said and he and Chance went to set up camp in the rocks.

Vladimir and Artur sat up the machine gun and started digging their foxhole.

"I guess the rest of us should set up to either side of Vlad and Art to give covering fire. What do you say, two each side?"

The others nodded and Nicolas and Ivan headed off to the right, while Odd and Ulrich dug in to the left. Now all was left was to wait.

* * *

"Sir how bad is the fighting in…this section here." Jeremy asked pointing to the area that Ulrich and the others were in.

"That's the worst, seems like the whole AMEA army is trying to break through there." The tech commander informed the young soldier.

"Oh" Jeremy sighed and he offered up a short prayer for the safety of his friends.

* * *

The waiting didn't last long. A loud whistling sound could be heard coming their way.

"What the hell is that?" Odd asked.

He was answered by a large explosion fifty yards to the left.

"Their shelling us, everyone get down!" Ulrich yelled as he dove into his foxhole.

"I have a shot!" Chance yelled across the radio.

"What?"

"Ulrich I have a shot on a guy peeking his head out, looks like a spotter calling in the artillery."

"Well take him out before he takes us out!"

Chance regulated his breathing like he had done in training so many times. 'Nice and easy now' Chance adjusted for the crosswind and squeezed the trigger. He blinked at the sound of the blast, but opened his eyes in time to see the bullet hit the spotter in the head. A large red puff was clearly seen as the man fell to the ground dead.

"Nice shot!" Odd cheered.

Chance climbed back down off the rocks and the artillery soon subsided.

"I have a target," Jesse said.

"Doesn't look military though?"

Ulrich pulled out his binoculars and looked. A young girl and two boys a little older were sent out to get the body.

"Don't fire!"

"I copy. They look like civilians don't they."

"Look Spanish." Ivan commented.

"Their using the Spanish to retrieve their dead to prevent losing anymore men, damn that's just wrong." Nicolas commented.

A large puff of smoke appeared in the view of Ivan's binoculars.

"Everyone Down!"

Another large explosion landed near the rock outcropping the two snipers were in. The barrage lasted for ten minutes. To Omega squad it was the longest ten minutes they had ever lived. Every second was spent cringing waiting for the next round to land on them and blow them apart.

Once the barrage ended, Ulrich got on the squad's radio. "Everyone alright?"

Seven affirmatives came back. "I'm good too." Ulrich sighed. He crawled out of his hole and looked around. He couldn't see a thing. Smoke and debris filled the air. Slowly the wind began to carry it away. When the smoke cleared enough, the sight took Ulrich's breath away.

"Everyone dig in there coming!" He said diving into his foxhole and sighting his rifle in on the first of thousands of soldiers rushing across the clearing towards them.

"Oh Shit!" Odd said and that was the last any of them heard as all sound was drowned out by shots from both sides. The squad returned fire, but the enemy kept coming.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I took my time, and it feels a lot less rushed to me. Please review and let me know what you think. I want to say thanks again to all my faithful reviewers. And to those who don't review every time, I still would like to hear from you. Thanks again, hope you liked it.**


	11. Left Behind

**I found another allotment of time, so another chapter is up! Everyone celebrate! Anyways, thanks again to everyone who reviewed. To the faithful nine or so, your constant reviews keep me going on those days I get writers block. To those of you who reviewed last chapter for the first time, thanks, it made my day to see them. Well I'll shut up and let you read.**

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Smoke filled the air and there was confusion everywhere. Ulrich was firing as fast as he could, trying to slow down the oncoming soldiers. He looked down to reload and when he looked up there was an enemy soldier standing above his foxhole.

"No."

The soldier fired and the bullet pierced his heart and the blood began to flow out. Ulrich's eyes began to glaze over and he sagged to the bottom of his foxhole, which now seemed like a shallow grave. All signs of life were left the brunette's body as the enemy soldier turned and fired at the others.

"NO!" Yumi screamed waking up. She swallowed hard and looked around the room. 'It was just a dream, it was only a dream' Yumi told herself trying to calm down.

"Yumi are you ok?" Kasey asked from the other side of Yumi's door.

"I'm…I'm not sure." Yumi said almost sobbing.

Kasey walked into the room and saw Yumi at the edge of tears. "What's wrong?"

"I had a bad dream, I..." Yumi gasped as the sight of Ulrich dying flashed through her head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Yumi nodded and described her dream.

"You don't think it's a vision of what's going to happen do you?"

Kasey tried to give a reassuring smile. "No, we may have powers in lyoko, but I don't think you can tell the future here. Ulrich will be fine, don't worry."

"Thanks Kasey." Yumi said wiping away a tear. The two girls hugged and then went to get some breakfast.

Breakfast was the last thing on Odd's mind as he shot an enemy soldier a mere ten yards away. The smoke and fire all around was burning his eyes and it was pure chaos all around. Only one thing was clear, they weren't wining the fight.

"Ulrich, they're getting too close!" Odd yelled to his friend.

"I know, we got to hold though!"

"Do you see any of our soldiers?"

"Haven't seen one since the battle started."

"I think they…" Odd paused as he shot another soldier in the knee and then twice in the chest. "I think they retreated!"

With bullets whizzing around Ulrich peeked around to find nothing. The only shooting from their side was Omega Squad.

"Omega Squad……..what……doing…..ordered……retreat."

Ulrich grabbed the radio at his feet.

"Say again!"

"Said….retreat….you….alone….get the hell out!"

Ulrich dropped the radio.

"Shit, they left us here!" He yelled to the others.

"I can't hold them off of the machine gun much longer!" Odd yelled.

"Artur, Vlad, can you hear me?" Ulrich screamed into the squad's headset.

"Yeah, we're very busy!" came the quick reply.

"Cover Ivan and Nicolas as they run to the rock outcropping."

"Roger!"

Ivan and Nic grabbed their guns and ammo and crawled out of their foxholes and sprinted for the rocks. They were almost there when the bullet hit Nicolas. Nicolas's leg buckled as a fiery jolt of pain shot up and into his stomach.

"Oh Damn!" Nic cursed as he fell clutching his leg.

Ivan grabbed him and dragged him the rest of the way to the rocks.

"Where are you hit?" Ivan asked

"In the leg, the fucking leg!" Nic yelled very shaken by being shot.

"I've got it." Jesse said running over to them and starting to dress the wound. The bullet had passed through the leg, and Jesse wrapped a bandage on both sides. By the time he was done, his hands and shirt were covered in blood.

Ivan grabbed his gun and started firing.

"Alright, Artur, Vlad pack it up!"

Artur and Vlad grabbed the machine gun and ammo and took off. Without the heavy fire from the machine gun, the enemy soldiers surged forward.

"Odd we got to go!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Odd said as he was already half way out of the hole.

The two sprinted zigzagging as they went. Odd was running as fast as he could, but Ulrich's soccer training had always lent the brunette more speed. A mortar landed in front of Odd, knocking Odd to the ground.

"Ulrich!" he screamed running to his friend.

"I….I'm…damn what happened?" Ulrich asked grabbing his head which felt like it was on fire.

Ulrich appeared to be still in one piece, but he was pretty out of it. Odd half dragged him the rest of the way and the small squad set up at the rock outcropping.

"I'm…I feel like puking."

Jesse who had finished tending to Nic walked over to Ulrich.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Ulrich you know that?" Ulrich said a little irritated by the stupid question.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here to…to…oh man!"

Jesse sighed, "Ulrich you'll be fine, the blast must have thrown you into the ground pretty hard, you have a concussion."

Enemy soldiers swarmed all around and the squad lay very very still among the rocks. One enemy soldier pointed towards the rocks and a group of four started walking over to them.

"Oh great." Odd muttered.

"I have the one on the right, Jess you take lead left." Chance said looking through is scope.

"Wait, don't shoot, look." Ivan said as a commander yelled at the soldiers and they turned away and headed back to join the rest of the AMEA army marching past.

"Oh that was close." Odd sighed.

The soldiers lay still for hours. Jesse continued playing medic to Nic and Ulrich, checking their wounds every few hours. Once nightfall came, Chance and Jesse went to scout the area.

They walked a few miles back towards what had once been friendly territory.  
What they found was a massive army of ten thousand men, between them and home. The squad was separated from their fellow soldiers, from their loved ones, and from all supplies.

"Let's go tell the others." Chance said.

They both crawled back down the hill they had been scouting from and walked back.

Ulrich saw them coming, "So what's the news?"

Chance had a grim look on his face, "It's not good. We are trapped behind enemy lines, Nic is wounded and will be slow moving, and we are going to run out of rations in three days."

"Any good news?" Odd asked.

"Yeah, we're all together, and all alive." Jesse said.

"Yeah, that's definitely a plus." Odd said smiling a little bit.

"Well we can't sit here forever, we need to move out while it's still dark." Chance said.

"Yeah, let's go, Ivan, can you help Nic?"

Ivan nodded at Ulrich and everyone grabbed what gear they had left and moved out, with no idea for what the future held, they just kept walking away from the AMEA army, hoping to find a safe place to spend the next day.

"This is an emergency alert! France is being invaded! France is being invaded! We strongly urge everyone to leave or find a safe place to hide."

Yumi stared in shock as she and Hiroki watched the news. Footage of the battle showed the French army being decimated as thousands of AMEA troops poured across the border into France.

"I…Oh my God!" Yumi sobbed.

Hiroki looked at his sister. He had never seen her so scared or fragile. She had always been the big sister to look up too.

Hiroki scooted over on the couch and held his sister close. "It's ok, everything will be ok, I promise sis."

"But…but Ulrich and the others." Yumi sobbed.

Hiroki was at a loss, the footage looked bad and it seemed like the French army was struggling to find a place to make a stand. "Yumi, Ulrich will be ok, he's always looked out for himself and you, and…and I'm sure he's fine."

Hiroki's words didn't help much, but Yumi was thankful that her brother was trying. "Thanks Hiroki, you're a great brother."

"Yeah? Huh I wonder when that happened?"

Yumi allowed a small smile, "come on, we need to help the others prepare."

"For what?"

"For the war that is coming here."

By the time Hiroki and Yumi arrived at Kadic, most of the students had packed up and were heading out. Jim and the few staff were closing up the place.

"Jim where are Kasey and everyone?" Yumi asked.

"They said something about a factory, I told them it wasn't safe, but they wouldn't listen. You two need a ride?"

"No, but thanks, we got to stay with our friends."

Jim looked reluctant to leave the two behind, but he had to get the rest of the staff and students to safety.

"Be careful, you here?"

"We will Jim, be safe." Yumi said and with that Jim drove off.

The two made it to the factory in record time. The jumped in the elevator and arrived in the control room to find everyone else.

"Hey what's the news?" Yumi asked as they entered.

Everyone turned and Kasey told someone on the computer screen to hold on.

"Yumi we need to talk." Kasey said, pulling her away from the others.

"What's wrong?"

Kasey took a deep breath trying to hold her emotions in. "Yumi…Ulrich and the others were in the roughest part of the fighting, that's Jeremy on the screen. He said that no one has seen them or heard from them since a broken transmission during the battle."

"No…they have to be ok…they have to be." Yumi gasped.

"We don't know anything yet, but we came to a conclusion, if they are alive, they are in trouble. We are staying here. If they are ok, this is where they'll come."

Yumi nodded, "Will we be safe?"

"That's why I pulled you aside, I think we need Xana for this."

Yumi looked shocked, "are you nuts? The last time we made a truce with Xana you were brainwashed and Odd almost died saving you!"

Kasey put both hand on Yumi's shoulders and looked her friend in the eyes. "You know as well as I do that this is our only chance of surviving. We can't run fast enough if the war is going as badly as it sounds. We need his help."

Yumi was silent for a moment. "Alright, but I'm going to do the talking, ok?"

"Alright."

With that Yumi headed to the scanner and Kasey informed the others of their plan.

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**Hey, I hope you liked it. Please review, they make my day and it let's me know if you are still interested in the story. Best wishes to everyone.**


	12. JJ

**Because of the great reviewers I have, and the free time i found, I present you chapter twelve. Thanks to all who reviewed, it truly inspired me to write another chapter quickly. I hope you enjoy.**

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"I…I can't walk any further, my leg is locking up." Nicolas said as he leaned against a tree. "I'm sorry."

Everyone stopped, "It's ok, we all need a rest." Ulrich said holding his throbbing head.

They all stopped and sat in silence for a little while. For a moment the peaceful silence of the night lulled the squad into a sense of safety. A piercing scream and a series of shots shattered the serene night.

"What was that?" Chance asked, jumping up from the log he had been sitting on.

"Don't know, we should check it out. Nic, how's your leg doing now?" Ulrich asked.

"It's better, but if we get in a tight spot, I can't run, just remember that."

"Don't worry, we won't leave without you."

The squad limped its way towards the wails that continued to pierce the night. After thirty minutes of slow hiking, they came to a small village. It was actually the remains of a village. The houses, and shops had all been burned out, and bodies were strewn everywhere.

"My God." Ivan gasped at the sight. "They…they killed everyone…women…children."

The squad slowly worked its way into the village that was lit by small flames in the rubble that cast ghostly shadows over everything.

Nicolas sat down propped up against a small wall while the others scouted the area. The soldiers soon returned.

"The village looks clear, everything's burned out or burning, I don't see any movement." Jesse reported, as he and Chance came around the corner to meet with the others after scouting the far side of the village.

"I can't believe…." Odd stopped as they all turned at a sound.

Artur and Vladimir moved slowly forward with their rifles ready. A small figure emerged from the rubble of a house a few yards away and ran to the two nervous soldiers.

"Au Secours, au secours!" The figure yelled running up to Vlad and wrapping its arms around the young man. Vlad looked down to find a girl no older than six, wrapped around his legs.

"What did she say?" Vlad asked picking the girl up, and turning to Ulrich.

"She was yelling, help." Was Ulrich's sad reply.

The little girl looked at Ulrich and spurted off another sentence.

"C'est trop tard." Ulrich replied in French.

Odd looked away from the girl, tears in his eyes. Chance walked over to him.

"What's wrong?"

Odd wiped the tears away, "She…she was asking us to help her parents."

"What did Ulrich say?"

"He said it was too late." Odd said pointing to two bodies lying way too still in the rubble.

"Damn…now what?" Chance muttered as he looked around at the carnage that was once a peaceful village.

The two walked back over to Ulrich who was busy holding the girl and trying to console her. The little girl sat weeping with her head buried in Ulrich's shirt.

"A new member?" Ivan said pointing at the girl.

"What do you mean?" Ulrich asked, looking up from the girl.

"I mean is she a new member of our squad, is she going with us?"

"We can't leave her here." Ulrich replied.

The rest of the night was filled with watching and searching for any other survivors. None were found. By morning, Ulrich was able to get the girl to tell him her name. Janet Jentien Pierre was now a member of Omega squad.

"I'm calling her JJ." Odd said when he heard the name.

JJ perked up at the new nickname and laughed when Odd asked if she liked it.

The rest of that day was spent in the unpleasant task of burying the dead. AMEA's army had moved farther into France, and it seemed that they were bent on killing everyone in their way.

JJ's mother and father were buried last and the squad held a small funeral for the two. As the funeral ended, everyone except Ulrich and JJ walked away.

JJ stared at the two crosses made of the very house she had once lived in. Tears streaming down her face she clung to Ulrich's hand.

"JJ, we have to go."

The young girl looked up with sad eyes and nodded, she glanced one last time at the graves and ran to Odd who was cleaning his gun and jumped into his lap. The blonde soldier hugged her and held her close, handing his gun to Jesse who finished the cleaning for his comrade.

Ulrich looked at the grave. "Don't worry, we'll take care of her." He said, he laid a flower on each grave and walked away with a heavy heart. Omega squad left the village behind and headed towards what they hoped was still free France. JJ walked a ways, but soon grew tired, the members of the squad took turns carrying her. Nicolas even tried, but his knee locked up and JJ jumped down apologizing.

"It's ok, I'll be fine." Nic laughed and the girl seemed pleased and continued walking along side her new guardians.

"Xana, I know you can hear me and I know you have heard of the war, I'm here to offer you a deal." Yumi shouted as she, Hiroki and Millie walked in the desert region of Lyoko.

Two crabs appeared over a sand dune and then a large swarm of hornets buzzed by.

"Don't shoot." Yumi said, "I think I know what this is."

"What!" Hiroki hissed as the monster drew closer.

"His honor guard."

Sure enough, once the monsters were a few yards away they parted like a curtain and Xana walked down the middle of them.

Millie gasped at the sight of Xana, he had changed over the years. His human like form had grown even darker. His skin had turned a menacing gray with red symbols tattooed all across it. He wore a dark black cloak and his eyes glowed an evil yellow.

"Why would I deal with you after what happened last time."

"What the hell are you talking about." Yumi screamed, "You were the one who trapped Kasey and almost killed her and Odd."

"And I was almost killed because you kids decided that I had betrayed the truce. I did no such thing, we agreed that we would be enemies again once the mutual threat was destroyed."

"Why you…." Yumi was held back by Hiroki, and Millie stepped forward.

"As it may be, we have another mutual threat."

"Ah little one, you are so wise for such a new member of the gang, a pity you don't join me."

"Not today, bud, do you want to deal?" Millie said, a little perturbed with the virus's new attitude.

"Right to the point," Xana sighed, "Takes all the fun out of the mind games doesn't it?"

"We don't have time for the mind games." Yumi snapped.

"Easy, your temper won't help you here." Xana said waving a mocking finger at Yumi. Yumi's anger rose, but she kept it inside. 'how the hell did he learn to mock us?' She thought.

"What do you propose?" Xana asked turning to Millie.

"We need your help fortifying the factory, we need your monsters to help defend. We in exchange will not throw the switch and kill you in the middle of the war and with our help, we may save the factory, thus save you."

"Ah, but what if I don't want to be saved?" Xana asked.

"What?" Millie asked in confusion.

"I tire of this endless game we play, why don't I let you die, and in my death bring about yours."

"Well…I ….I don't know?" Millie said stunned.

"Because it would not be a victory, it would be a draw, no one would win." Kasey's voice said from the sky.

"Ah…now that is why I chose you to be my servant." Xana laughed.

Kasey cursed at the computer.

"Fine I will do it, but under one condition." Xana laughed again, ignoring Kasey's furious voice coming down from above.

Yumi looked at Xana, "What is that?"

"I want to be materialized like Aelita was."

"What?" Everyone gasped.

"I'm tired of this prison, I want out!" Xana yelled.

Kasey came over the headset, "It will be arranged, once we are all safe."

"Very well, you may have your monsters, but if you don't do as we agreed, my monsters will exact my revenge for me."

With that Xana disappeared and the monsters began pouring out of one of the scanners. At first they just crowded around, looking bored. However, when Kasey told them to guard the factory, they all snapped to some sort of attention and set up around. The crabs and blocks remained inside, while the hornets flew overhead and the krankelats hid in the bushes to shoot any trespassers.

"Damn it!" Jeremy cursed as he tried again to call Ulrich.

"Still no response?" Jeremy's commander asked. Usually the commander would have been furious at such a blatant violation of orders, but the cell phones were the only mean of communication working, or at least trying to work.

"None, I'm going to try a text message."

Ulrich was carrying JJ when his vest started buzzing, waking the small girl who was asleep in his arms. Ulrich sat her down and grabbed his phone.

Ulrich tell me your ok

J.

Ulrich typed back quickly, he wrote that he was ok, and that they were on their way to Kadic to rendevouz there. Jeremy wrote back saying he would try to meet them there, but that the enemy was swarming towards Kadic and the others.

A loud beep sounded and Ulrich's phone's battery died before he could respond.

"Ahhhh, stupid phone." Ulrich yelled as he put the phone up frustrated.

"Well at least they know we're alive." Odd said.

"Yeah but, how are we going to meet up with Jeremy or anyone else, when we have a whole army between us?"

"I don't…where did Jeremy say they were heading?" Odd asked, suddenly serious.

"Towards Kadic." Ulrich froze.

He and Odd both looked at JJ and everyone else caught on. If AMEA would burn a village they wouldn't stop at a school.

"We got to get there now." Odd said grabbing his gear.

"Hold on!" Ulrich shouted. "First off, we need rest, we won't last if we try to make it there in one day. Second, we are going to need our strength to fight once we get there."

Odd nodded and sat back down. They set up shifts for keeping watch, and everyone took turns getting some sleep.

It was four in the morning when Yumi's phone rang.

"Don't tell me Xana screwed us again." Yumi muttered into the phone.

"Yumi this is Jeremy."

"Jeremy! What's wrong?" Yumi gasped sitting up straight in her bed.

"Ulrich and the others are alive, I thought you would want to know."

Yumi smiled wiping the tears of joy away, "That's great, where are they."

"That's the bad news, they're trapped behind enemy lines. By the way, are all of you at Kadic still?"

"Yeah why?"

"AMEA will be marching through there in the next week or so, I was hoping to talk you out of staying."

"I can't leave without Ulrich." Yumi said stubbornly into the phone.

"Do me a favor will you?"

"Anything Jeremy."

"Tell everyone, I'm coming, and so are the others, but we may not make it until after you are under attack, so hold on, we are coming."

Yumi choked on the lump in her throat, "They are coming straight here?" She asked.

"I'm afraid so, be careful."

"We will be." Yumi said, but the phones had cut out already.

Yumi jumped out of bed and grabbed Hiroki and ran for the school, she had to warn the others of what was coming.

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**Ahh, so many twists huh, Omega squad has a six year old to watch, Xana wants to be human, AMEA is killing everyone in sight and marching towards Yumi and the others. I know I know...update soon. LOL, the next chapter may be a little longer in coming, I really want to make it good, so don't dispare if you find i haven't posted another in three days, it may be up to a week. Please review, cause that sometimes makes me want to write faster. Hope you still like the story.**


	13. Guardian Angels

**The next chapter has arrived. I can't say anything else, don't want to ruin the surprises. I hope you enjoy.**

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An explosion snapped Ulrich out of the little sleep he had been enjoying.

"Incoming!"

Ulrich rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sunk down into the hole he was in. The explosion landed closer and kicked a layer of dirt over him.

"What's going on?" Ulrich yelled shaking the dirt off and grabbing for his rifle.

"Someone is using us as target practice!" Odd yelled from the hole he was hunkered in with his arm wrapped tightly around JJ to keep her down. JJ laid very still, crying softly, her head buried in Odd's side.

Nic poked his head out from behind the tree he had been able to crawl behind.

"Guys, it's a tank, just one, looks like a replacement spotted us on its way to the front." Nicolas yelled.

The squad hunkered down and tried to show no signs of life. The tank eventually stopped firing.

"Oh good, I think it…" Odd was cut off by a bullet that whizzed mere inches from his face.

"Shit we got to go, get out of here now!"

Everyone jumped out and started running from the three squads of enemy soldiers quickly coming towards them.

As they jumped out, Nicolas who was already out of the hole started running, but his leg gave out.

"Go on! Get JJ out of here!" Nic yelled as the others stopped to grab him.

"Fuck!" Odd said as he grabbed JJ and ran full speed towards the woods. Bullets were kicking up the dirt at his feet and he cringed knowing that any moment that one bullet would end his life.

Ivan and Ulrich turned to grab Nicolas but a barrage of bullets caused them to dive for cover. Odd turned once he reached the woods and set JJ down and grabbed his rifle.

"Stay behind me ok?" He said and the little girl nodded cowering behind her protector, hands over her ears.

Odd aimed and started giving covering fire. What he saw next would stay with him the rest of his life.

The enemy opened up with a machine gun and the bullets tracked towards Nicolas who was crawling as fast as he could. The bullets chewed through his legs and the young man collapsed in pain. He lay there writhing in pain.

Chance and Jesse grabbed Nicolas by his vest and dragged him on the run. A trail of blood stained the grass as the soldiers dragged their wounded comrade. They were almost there. Odd was unloading as fast as he could. That's when everything completely broke down.

"Damn it!" Jesse yelled as he was thrown to the ground grabbing his shoulder. He pulled his hand away and found it covered in blood. Ulrich and Ivan came running out and Ulrich grabbed Nic's vest and helped Chance drag him the rest of the way. Ivan grabbed Jesse and pulled him to his feet and half dragged the stunned soldier to cover.

Vladimir and Artur seeing their friends in danger snapped into action. As the enemy soldiers raced after the others, they turned around and ran back diving to the ground. The stunned enemy hesitated for a moment and Vlad got the machine gun set up.

The steady firing of the two Russians on the machine gun sliced through the oncoming soldiers. The surprise of a counterattack caused the enemy to panic. Many stood there as the bullets ripped through them. The enemy soldiers panicked and the few who survived fled.

"Good work Art and Vlad." Odd cheered.

A distant puff of smoke caught Ulrich's eye. "Vlad!"

The round from the tank landed next to the two brothers.

"Vlad, Artur?" Ivan yelled as he sprinted to his brothers.

A fighter jet flew over and fired a missile that reduced the tank to so much rubble.

The skirmish was over, and the plane flew off, waggling its wings as it flew over the squad.

None of them noticed. Chance was busy trying to stop the bleeding on Jesse's shoulder. He was working frantically and eventually he got his best friend patched up. Jesse moaned in pain, but sat up and looked over to where Nicolas was lying.

"How is he?" He asked.

Chance's face was a twisted array of grief and anger, "He's dead, Jess, the machine gun did it's work."

Jesse looked again at the dead soldier. Nicolas looked so still; his face was locked in an expression of horrifying agony.

Jesse sagged back down and Odd walked over to him. He was careful to hide Nicolas from JJ, and the girl ran to Jesse's side.

"Monsieur? She asked looking at Jesse's wound

"I'm fine little one, I'll be ok." Jesse said, and the little girl sat down next to the wounded man and snuggled up against him. Jesse wrapped his good arm around her and held the trembling girl close.

Odd saw that everything was ok and ran to Ulrich and Ivan.

He saw the situation was hopeless as soon as he arrived. Artur was already dead, his lifeless hands clutching at a gaping hole in his stomach. He had bled out before Ivan made it to them.

"I….I'm sorry bro…brother." Vladimir gasped as he tried to suck in another breath.

The large Russian cradled his brother's head with tears streaming down his face. "For what brother, for what?"

Vlad, sucked in another desperate breath. "For…not…saving Artur."

Ivan let the tears flow and looked his younger brother in the eyes. "You both saved us all, I'm proud of you both. Thank you Vladimir."

Vladimir smiled and then gasped for air. A panicked look came over his face and he squeezed Ivan's hand tightly. His eyes glazed over and the young Russian went to join his brother and Nicolas in the afterlife.

Ivan just stared at the broken bloody bodies of his brothers he finally reached down and closed the Vladimir's staring eyes.

Ulrich laid a hand on the large man, "Come Ivan, we can't stay here, we need to bury them quickly."

Ivan looked up with sad, hateful eyes, "I know, help me bury them."

Odd and Ulrich each grabbed an arm and pulled Ivan up. They both picked up one of the brothers and carried them back to the others. Chance seeing what was happening took JJ away into the woods until the others had buried the three.

Chance along with JJ came back as the squad stood around and said some final words. Ivan said his farewell to his brothers and walked away to gather his emotions.

Odd walked over to Nic's grave and knelt down by the fresh dirt. "I know we had our differences over the years, but you were like a brother these last few months. I will miss you man." Odd bowed his head in respect and then went to keep watch.

JJ walked in front of the graves, her tiny blue eyes, watering. "Anges gardiens." She whimpered and walked back to Chance's side and clung to the American's leg.

"Guardian angels in deed." Ulrich said somberly.

They laid each soldier's helmet on his rifle that was stuck in the ground next to their grave. A dog tag hung on each rifle to identify the dead. The soldiers with JJ in tow walked away, leaving behind three of their brothers.

The town was dead, no one except the most stubborn stayed to defend their homes. The town was all but empty. Only a few dozen remained. One band of defenders set up inside the factory, to make a final stand.

"Yumi? Do you think we have a chance?" Millie asked looking at the older girl.

"There's always a chance." Yumi said smiling.

"Do you think Chance is ok?" Yumi felt for the girl, she was worried about Ulrich. Every little moment she wasn't busy preparing for the attack, her thoughts were on Ulrich. 'Millie must feel the same for Chance.'

"I'm sure he is." Yumi said, hoping for the redhead's sake that her words were true.

"The army is outside the city, they seem to be setting up artillery." Hiroki said stepping out of the elevator.

"Will the hornets take the hits?" Yumi asked Kasey.

"We'll find out soon enough."

Hades stood overlooking the city before him. 'this is true power, having your enemies flee before you fire a shot.'

"Sir we are ready." A young soldier said to the leader of AMEA's army.

'This is for you Mahib.' The man said remembering his former second in command's death in this very town.

"Open fire." Hades said calmly, without hate or anger in his voice. It was the cold smooth murderous nature that scared his troops the most.

Tanks and field artillery opened up on the town and school. Building after building crumbled in the onslaught.

An explosion shook the factory. Everyone inside gasped. Another explosion shook the building, but everything was still in one piece.

"I think it's working." Kasey smiled.

"Remember your promise." Xana warned from the computer screen.

"We remember." Kasey sighed as another explosion rocked the building.

"Sir we can't hit the factory."

"What?"

"Um…look sir." The soldier said handing his leader a pair of binoculars.

Hades growled at the sight. What appeared to be drones were intercepting every shell that headed towards the factory.

"Damn, cease fire."

The barrage stopped. Hades gave the signal and the tanks and infantry marched forward.

AMEA soldiers flooded the town and most of the resistance was slaughtered in a bloody street battle. The only place the soldiers had trouble penetrating was the mysterious defenses that protected the factory.

"Oh I almost forgot." Xana laughed from the computer screen. "I have some weapons for you in the scanners."

Yumi looked at Kasey who just shrug and gave a 'what the hell' look.

Yumi and Hiroki headed to the scanner and found three large crates materialized in the room. They opened them to reveal, high powered assault rifles, grenades, body armor, and what appeared to be food.

"Uh….Kasey do me a favor and ask Xana how he did this?"

Kasey asked and the evil grin on Xana's face grew even wider.

"Well dear momentary allies, I knew I could create monsters and other objects in lyoko, so I figured I'd create some supplies and send them to you."

Kasey relayed the answer and Yumi picked up one of the assault rifles that was unusually light. She pointed it at the far wall and squeezed the trigger. The wall exploded into fragments as a couple dozen bullets fired in a few seconds.

"Oh and I made some modifications of my own." Xana continued.

Kasey relayed that as well and got a very distraught Yumi and a very awed Hiroki on the other end.

"We can do some damage with this." Hiroki laughed and grabbed a gun for himself.

Gunshots were heard outside and monster began unleashing lethal lasers on the enemy soldiers. Unfortunately the monster had to recharge their lasers and were soon overwhelmed by the continuous waves of soldiers.

Everyone in the factory grabbed weapons, strapped on armor and hid in the scanner room, control room, or the ladder ways in between. The soldiers breached the top level and a squad entered the elevator.

"They're in the elevator." Kasey said calmly to Xana on the screen.

The soldiers inside saw a black gas appear in the elevator and they soon couldn't breathe. When the doors were finally pried open by their comrades on the outside they were dead.

"Sir the soldiers still have not breached the lower levels of the factory."

Hades turned to the messenger. "Why the hell not?" the man yelled furious at the slow progress.

"Um…it's….cause the place is booby trapped and well we're losing lots of soldiers."

"Tell them no excuses, if they don't capture the factory they better not come back, cause I will personally kill them myself." Hades hissed at the soldier who rushed to the radio to relay the order.

"Fuck!" Hades yelled and the command staff around him cringed as their leaders left his cool and calculating mentality for one of utter rage.

Omega squad limped their way to the edge of town only to find it swarmed by enemy soldiers.

"No…not now." Odd said hitting his knees in despair.

Ulrich scanned the city from the hill they were on and noticed that the factory was still standing. "Odd I think they are alive, look." He said handing the binoculars to his friend.

Odd saw soldiers all around the factory, but they all seemed hesitant to enter.

"Let's make these bastards pay." Ivan muttered from where he set holding the huge machine gun in his arms.

"We will, but we can't rush blindly, or….damn!" Ulrich said as a bullet whizzed by his head and they all dove to the ground.

Jesse was furiously scanning the battlefield through his scope. "Chance I can't shoot take the shot, he's five yard's to the left of the third tree in sector eight."

Odd and Ulrich exchanged confused glances and Chance fired, dropping the enemy sniper in one clean shot.

"Wait a minute, how the heck do you know what sector eight is?" Odd asked Chance as the squad grabbed gear, JJ, and headed for cover.

"As kids we played war games and one thing we did was develop our own sectors that we could use for any location."

"You had one really weird childhood."

"And saving the world from a computer virus for years is….?"

"Weird…ok…I give." Odd sighed.

They were within a hundred yards of the factory when the soldiers at the main entrance saw Ivan ducking behind a wall. All hell broke loose and the squad once again found themselves in a fight for their lives.

"come here JJ, sit with me." Jesse said motioning for the girl to climb into his lap as he sat rifle at the ready.

Kase looked at the camera feed she was getting and saw the enemy soldiers turn and start firing in another direction. She saw one soldier on the receiving end of the enemy's fire poke his head out.

"Odd?" Kasey gasped as she saw the figure duck his head back down.

An explosion behind her made her turn, as the door to the control room caved in and enemy soldiers rushed in. Millie and Kasey unloaded on the enemy cutting them down where they dropped into the room. The gun stopped firing and Kasey popped in another clip.

'We can't last forever.' Kasey thought as she and Millie continued firing.

Yumi heard an explosion and saw the doors of the scanner room disintegrate.

"Hiroki!"

Hiroki heard his sister's voice and turned a rifle in each hand and unloaded on the two soldiers as they entered in through the door. The brother and sister dove behind the scanners and opened up on anything that entered the room.

The crew was running out of time, as more and more soldiers were pouring into the upper levels of the factory. On the outside the remnants of Omega Squad stayed pinned down by a barrage of bullets. If nothing changed, Omega Squad and those in the factory would be wiped out for good.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Please review cause I really need to know how you feel about this chapter. Thank you so much to my faithful readers. You all rock.**


	14. Life

**Well here we go, another chapter and I just have to say hold on tight. I can't say more just read people read!**

* * *

Jeremy was with his commander on the edge of the town, opposite of where the massive AMEA army was invading. Jeremy stood in shock as he watched the destruction of the town that had been his home for so many years.

"Sir, I need to get to my friends." Jeremy pleaded.

The commander looked down at the young man, "I'm sorry son, I can't allow you to go, it's too dangerous."

"I have to! The girl I love is trapped in that factory!" Jeremy exploded as he started giving into his emotions. He loved Aelita too much to stand by and watch her die.

"No way will I allow…." The commander never finished as Jeremy pushed him to the ground. "What the hell?"

Jeremy didn't wait for his commander's reply, he was already in the jeep and driving towards the factory at insane speeds.

The commander was helped up by an aid. "God help you son." He said as he watched Jeremy top a hill and then disappear from sight.

Inside the factory, the firefight was going all out. Hiroki was bleeding from a wound in his side, but he was still up and fighting. Yumi had been grazed on her legs and arms, but she was pissed off and determined to reach Ulrich so the fight in her was only rising.

"Hiroki, do you have a grenade?"

Hiroki nodded, and threw the explosive into the elevator shaft. It exploded sending debris and fire shooting up and down the metal tube. Yumi rushed the door and looked up raking the stunned enemy with bullets. She ducked back inside as the lifeless bodies of the enemy dropped past the entrance.

The explosion from Hiroki's grenade gave Kasey and Millie enough of an edge to fight the soldiers out of the room. Millie added a grenade of her own, and for a moment, there was a still, deathly silence throughout the lower floors of the factory.

"Umm…excuse me, but can I be materialized?"

Kasey turned in shock as the computer screen lit up revealing a very unhappy Xana.

"Why should we, we haven't finished yet?"

"You need all the help you can get out there, and I want to experience humanity before you fail and kill us all."

Kasey frowned, "Fine, what could it hurt."

Kasey started the program and Xana's picture vanished on screen.

A large whoosh of air released as the scanner door opened behind Hiroki who jumped back rifle at the ready. The steam cleared to reveal a man in his twenties, with jet black hair.

"Oh, why do I feel like…whatever this feeling is?" Xana asked gripping his head, feeling true pain for the first time.

Yumi walked over to the scanner and offered her hand to Xana. The recently materialized virus took the offered hand and pulled himself up. Xana stood six feet tall, and was dressed in all black, with a large trench coat to top off the outfit.

"Well don't we look cheerful." Yumi commented.

"I never said I was a happy being did I?" Xana shot back, with a glare that caught the two siblings off guard.

"So…do you want a gun?" Hiroki asked.

"Yes," Xana said taking the gun, "Now, I'm going to kill everyone!"

"What?" Yumi and Hiroki both yelled raising their guns.

"Calm down, I mean all of them." Xana said pointing towards a dead AMEA soldier.

With that Xana jumped and grabbed a hold of the elevator cable and started pulling himself up faster than what was humanly possible.

"Uhh…..Kasey?"

"Yeah, did Xana appear?"

"Yeah and he….he is superhuman."

"Oh boy." Kasey sighed.

Chance was the first to see the grenade land in the middle of the pinned down squad.

"Shit!" Chance yelled as he dove for it. He scooped it up and tossed it over the wall before it exploded. The adrenaline was pumping through all of the squad, they all had the wild look of trapped animals.

"That's it! I can't take this anymore!" Ivan yelled.

The large Russian tossed his last grenade over the wall and then grabbed the two man machine gun his brothers had used and sprinted out from behind the wall.

"Covering fire!" Ulrich yelled as the others tried to give cover for their insane comrade.

Ivan was screaming all kinds of obscenities in Russian. He saw a group of soldiers lying on the ground still recovering from the grenade blast.

"Hey!" Ivan yelled as he stood above them.

The soldiers looked up thinking the voice was one of their own. When their faces turned to shock, Ivan unloaded. He unleashed hundreds of bullets into the soldiers, as they were torn to shreds by the hot steel. Numb to the violence he had just committed, Ivan walked back behind the wall, spraying bullets at any enemy who poked his head out.

"Are you…are you crazy?" Ulrich yelled grabbing Ivan by the shirt and hauling him back down.

"I….I had…" Ivan couldn't finish, and the fatigue began to set in. The fighting continued and Jesse handed JJ over to Ivan who was pretty out of it, so he could fight.

Jeremy rammed his jeep through the small group of AMEA soldiers standing outside of the factory. The blonde genius was furious, these men were trying to kill his friends, the girl he loved, everything he knew. The soldier who had dove out of the way, grabbed for their guns.

Jeremy dove through the door of the factory tossing a grenade out behind him to deter any pursuit. He rolled to a stop at the feet of twenty enemy soldiers.

"Oh…damn." Jeremy said as they pointed their guns at him and smiled sadistically.

Jeremy dropped his rifle and stood hands above his head.

"Ah, look at the puny soldier who thinks he can just surrender. Let's kill him!" One soldier said. The others nodded, but they all agreed, a bullet was to quick, this French soldier needed a good beating.

A large man reared back and landed a punch square on Jeremy's jaw, sending him sprawling across the floor. The soldiers all had a good laugh, as he struggled to his feet.

Another soldier ran over and reared back to get another punch in, but he never completed his attack. A bullet shot through his head and the man dropped dead in front of Jeremy.

"I believe, it is time for you to die." A very calm and defiant voice said from the shadows of the elevator shaft.

The soldiers aimed and fired at the figure as he stepped out of the elevator and walked slowly towards them. The bullets ricocheted off, seeming to do no harm to the man dressed in all black.

One soldier tossed a grenade at the feet of Xana and the newly materialized being smiled. The explosion sent dust and debris everywhere. Out of the dust, walked Xana slowly and menacing. His almost gleeful expression changed to one of hate and disgust.

"I've had enough fun, toying with you." He hissed as he lunged at the first soldier catching him in the throat with a knife.

The soldiers panicked and opened fire to no success. Xana dashed between the soldiers with amazing speed slicing them, sometimes shooting them, but no matter what method he chose, the result was the same. In a matter of minutes, all the soldiers were dead.

Xana strolled over to Jeremy. "I should really kill you too for all the times you tried to finish me."

"Who are you?" Jeremy said staring up in awe and wonder.

"Come on Jeremy, don't you recognize your old nemesis?"

"Xana?" Jeremy gasped.

Xana smiled, "I'll let the others explain, and I'm sure you can figure out my powers once you get to the computer. Farwell."

With that Xana strolled outside casually as if he was taking a walk. Jeremy heard screams and horrified screams as Xana continued his massacre.

The screams from the factory caused Ulrich to poke his head out from behind the wall and take a look. He was shocked to see a lone man about his age walking among the enemy soldiers slaughtering them at will.

"Uh…guys take a look at this." Ulrich said and the others joined him.

The enemy soldiers tried everything, but nothing appeared to affect the lone man. The man turned and looked directly at Odd and flashed an all too familiar evil smirk.

"Xana!" Odd gasped.

"That's the computer you've been fighting?" Chance and Jesse both exclaimed as Xana punched through the window of a truck and dragged the driver out.

"Well…yeah…I think." Was all Ulrich could say. With all the attention focused on Xana the squad made a dash to the factory, leaping over dead soldiers all the way.

Ulrich and the squad ran through the door, running smack dab into Jeremy.

"Jeremy?"

"Ulrich?"

The squad and Jeremy all ran for the elevator. Using some rope, they lowered everyone down to the control room.

Kasey heard more sound outside and readied her weapon, aiming for the doorway.

"Millie, be ready there could be a lot of them." Millie nodded as she aimed her rifle.

"Don't shoot!" Chance yelled as he hovered just above the entrance.

"Who are you?" Kasey yelled back.

"Omega squad, how can you forget, we just vacationed in this nice place a month and a half ago?" Chanced said a little sarcastically.

Millie jumped up and before Kasey could stop her, poked her head out of the door.

"Chance! Oh my God, get in here!" Millie said jumping for joy.

Kasey relaxed and Chance lowered into the room.

"Howdy, good to see you." He said and then gave Millie a quick kiss.

Kasey looked behind him with worried eyes and Chance knew what she was thinking.

"Don't worry he's right…" Chance didn't finish because Odd came shooting through the door, detached himself from the rope and wrapped Kasey up in a hug.

"Oh I've missed you!" He said as he held her tight.

Jeremy was next and then Ulrich and Ivan, followed by Jesse who had strapped JJ to his vest, using some extra rope. He would have given her to Ivan, but she wouldn't leave his side after they had ran for the factory so he offered to take her down even though he was wounded.

Yumi and Hiroki came up from below and Yumi wrapped Ulrich up in a hug and the two kissed passionately, all the while Hiroki groaning behind his sister.

Jeremy was looking around for Aelita. "Where's Aelita and Sissy?"

A hatch next to Jeremy opened and the two girls spilled out on the floor. Jeremy helped Aelita up and embraced her. Ivan offered his hand to Sissy who took it and was soon on her feet.

As always the current situation cut the happy reunions short. Jeremy rushed to the seat he had sat in so many times before and stared at the screen.

"Oh my gosh."

The others crowded around the blonde man.

"Xana is…Xana is fueling himself off of Lyoko, but every moment he fights, he is destroying what is left of Lyoko."

"What?" Aelita gasped, "why would he do that?

"Wait, there's a file here to the side, it's called explanation."

Jeremy clicked on the file and Xana's face appeared on the screen.

"Hello, dear former enemies."

"Did he just say former enemies?" Odd asked, but everyone shushed him to be quiet.

"Yes, I said former enemies. I have grown tired of our constant battles, with neither of us gaining any ground. My whole being is bent on destruction, so I have decided to end it all doing what I do best."

"He's destroying Lyoko." Jeremy gasped.

"I'm using all the power and energy that makes up Lyoko to fuel my superhuman abilities, mainly the shield that surrounds me. You humans have no clue what potential you could have with a few alterations here and there."

Xana's image gave another one of his trademark evil smirks.

"Don't worry, you have earned one thing from me in all these years…respect. For that, and for being worthy adversaries for so long, I have already erased the virus that connects me and Aelita. You are free Aelita, go live your life."

Aelita stared in shock at the screen and Xana's message continued.

"To Jeremy, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi, you have been most fun to toy with over the years, but alas all good games must have an ending. Take care and live your lives knowing I won't interfere anymore."

The message vanished and in its place a countdown until all the energy from Lyoko would run out.

Everyone rushed up to the top and out of the factory. In the distance they could see Xana cutting his way through the soldiers. He seemed to be set on reaching the command tent.

Xana could feel himself weakening, already two bullets had made it through his dying shield. The enemy seemed to be recharged by the sight of the blood and more were popping their heads out to fire.

"Die you foolish creature." Hades screamed as he rushed from his tent firing his pistol at Xana. His rage caused him to rush with in a few feet of Xana.

Xana's shield collapsed and the bullets struck all throughout his chest. Xana smiled, this pain, this utter pain and anguish meant he was truly alive, at least for a moment.

"No…it…is you who is foolish!" Xana yelled as he lunged forward and tackled Hades.

With his last bit of energy, Xana drew his knife and plunged it into the man's heart. Hades' eyes widened in shock. 'How could I fail' He thought as everything grew dark around him. He gasped for a breath that did not come and he like so many others was dead.

Xana rose to his feet and smiled at the shocked troops around him.

"Remember the name Xana, I'm the one who killed all of your friends." Xana coughed and then started laughing weakly.

The soldiers around him let loose with their weapons and Xana was filled with bullets. He collapsed on the ground his trench coat soaked with his own blood.

"My God!" Odd said as he watched the enemy army retreat carrying their commander's body with them.

For a moment all was quiet and then the sound of trucks and tanks could be heard as the French army moved in to reclaim what ground the could. Sissy looked around, she couldn't see Nicolas anywhere. She turned towards Ulrich, and then looked at Odd. No one would look her in the eyes.

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**Well I definately through another twist in there. I hope you liked it, and no this is not the end, there will be at least another chapter or two, maybe a lot more if you ask for it, but definately one or two more. I really would appreciate reviews, both good or bad, I want to know what you think. Have a great day or night(depends on what time it is) Thanks again. castaway567**


	15. Surprises

**I am sorry for the long delay between chapters, but baseball has me swamped. I however have found time to put this chapter in and I think you will enjoy it. Thanks for waiting patiently.**

* * *

The commander of the French Army, pulled up in a jeep next to the tired and exhausted band of resistance fighters. He stepped out and eyed the soldiers carefully. He saluted, and Jeremy and Omega squad wearily snapped to attention, returning the salute.

"I have heard of your fight and of the great lengths you have gone to preserve our nation. I want to express my gratitude and congratulations on a job well done."

Ulrich looked the commander in the eye, "Thank you sir. We were just doing our job, but we lost good men along the way."

Sissy heard Ulrich's words and knew in her heart that her worst fear had come true. She couldn't hold her emotions back anymore and she ran into the factory crying. Millie chased her down and held the older girl as they both set on the ground.

"I'm sorry Sissy, I'm so sorry."

"I…how…no." Sissy gasped and then her words were lost in the sobbing.

Ulrich and the others saw Sissy run away and he looked back at the commander.

"Sir, her boyfriend was one of the ones killed from our squad, may I go tell her what happened?"

"Yes son…and take the next week off. Seek any medical attention you need from the camp we set up here. Report back to me in a week, I think you need the time to recover and to grieve."

"Thank you sir." Ulrich said and everyone saluted the commander as he saluted and drove away in his jeep.

Ulrich and the others walked into the factory to find the two girls on the ground.

"Sissy, I know this doesn't help right now, but…he died saving this little girl here." Ulrich said as JJ clung to Ulrich's leg.

"How…how did he die?"

Ulrich bit back the grief that was threatening to overtake him and continued. "When we were first trapped behind enemy lines, Nic was shot in the leg. He was ok, except that he had a hard time walking and could not run at all."

Ulrich paused and Odd continued for his friend.

"Sissy…Nic gave up his life to save JJ. Nic was running for the woods when his leg gave out during an ambush. I was the first one to get to him, but I had JJ in my hands. He told me to keep going and to save her. By the time anyone else could reach him, he had been shot by a machine gun and was dead."

Sissy sobbed, but her pain was eased ever so slightly knowing that his death had served a purpose of sorts.

Yumi looked around the group and noticed who the other two missing were. "Are your brothers…." She asked Ivan.

The large Russian nodded and walked away from the group to be alone for a time.

* * *

After a small time of grieving and rest, the group walked up the hill to find Xana's body. They found it full of wounds. The most fitting thing about Xana's death is that his now still body still held the evil smirk he liked to give his enemies. Ivan reached down and grabbed the body and slung it over his back.

The group marched down the hill in silence and carried the broken body to the ground outside the factory. The girls went inside while the boys dug a shallow grave. Inside Kasey found a piece of metal that looked a lot like a head stone and the girls thought of fitting words to remember the fallen hero.

Once the grave was finished, Xana was placed in and a tarp was laid over his body.

"Should we say some words?" Odd asked the others.

"I'll do it." Jeremy said.

The blonde boy walked to the edge of the grave and stared down into it for a moment as he composed his thoughts.

"Xana you were the toughest opponent I have ever faced. You were always full of tricks and surprises. You saved your biggest surprise for last. I am glad that we were allies in the end. Thank you for your sacrifice, and may you rest in peace, wherever you are."

Each person threw a handful of dirt into the grave and then Ulrich and Odd shoveled the rest in. Kasey and Yumi placed the headstone. They walked away and headed back to rest up for the troubles that they were sure to face.

Aelita paused for a moment as she read the headstone one last time.

Fallen comrade and courageous warrior.

He died saving those he used to fight.

No greater a sacrifice than to lay down your life for another.

Rest In Peace Brother.

"You surprised us all." Aelita said as she walked over to Jeremy who was waiting for her.

* * *

Yumi, Ulrich and JJ were walking through what used to be the park. Most of it had been destroyed but amazingly enough a few things remained. There was a lone swing set and a bench.

JJ looked at the swing eyeing it curiously.

"Go ahead, we'll watch you from here." Ulrich said and the little girl ran towards the swing and hopped on with the childlike joy Ulrich had hoped she still had.

Yumi grabbed Ulrich's hand and led him to the bench.

"I'm sorry about your friends, Nic and the two brothers."

Ulrich looked at Yumi and smiled. "Thanks, I'm just glad some of us made it. I'm glad to see you again."

The two kissed. Ulrich broke it off and stood up and Yumi started to get up too.

"Uh…you can stay sitting." Ulrich croaked as his nervousness grew.

Yumi sat down, curiosity apparent on her face.

Ulrich dropped to a knee and Yumi gasped as she realized where this was going.

"Uh…Yumi…will…I've loved you and always will, will you marry me." Ulrich said nervously.

Yumi tackled Ulrich as she lept off the bench. The two were lying on the ground Yumi on top of Ulrich. She looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"Of course I will. I love you Ulrich"

"I love you Yumi."

The two kissed and continued kissing until a tiny hand tapped Ulrich on the shoulder.

"Monsieur." JJ said pointing towards the far end of the park.

Yumi and Ulrich both sat up and followed the little girls finger to see Odd and Kasey walking towards them.

"Let's tell them." Yumi said excitedly and she, Ulrich and JJ hurried over to their friends.

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry it is shorter than normal, but my time to write is a lot less now. I will keep writing, so do not lose interest. Please review so I can get an idea about how you feel about this. Oh and a shout out to sargentaaron2004 for mentioning a funeral for Xana. Thanks, i had forgotten about doing that until you said something. Again, please review, thank you.**


	16. Bonding Hearts

**Hello everyone...well good news and bad news. The good news is that i updated and that you should like the chapter. The bad news is that it is short again, and that is due to baseball and classes taking up a lot of time. I will continue to update as soon as possible, so please bare with me. However, enough jibber jabber...enjoy!**

* * *

JJ rushed ahead of the excited adults and jumped into Odd's arms. Odd smiled at the little girl and then made a face and was rewarded with a giggle from JJ.

"Well you two are excited, what's up?" Kasey asked as Yumi and Ulrich ran up.

Yumi and Ulrich both looked at each other.

"Go ahead Yumi."

Yumi smiled, "Ulrich proposed to me…We are getting married!"

Kasey gasped and wrapped Yumi up in a huge hug, while Odd set down JJ and slapped Ulrich on the back.

"That a kid, hey you need to tell the others come on."

The two couples and JJ walked back to the factory to meet the others.

* * *

A pair watched the couples leave the park.

"Everything is going as planned."

The other figure removed her cloak and smiled. "I know, the closer they all get, the greater their pain when I pick them apart one by one."

"Careful, don't let your hatred cause you to act blindly."

The female figure smiled at her strong male companion. "Do not worry my friend, we will have our revenge, but I'm not too crazy to act blindly. I just want to leave this here in honor of him."

The woman walked to the bench and nailed a piece of paper to the back. It read….

So tired and lonely

My broken heart weeps

For what we once had

I can no longer sleep

I wish we were together

Holding each other close

Now that you are gone

I've lost what I love most

I sit here and wonder

If you will ever return

Your not coming back

The past I should burn

My heart won't let me

So here I wait

This tortured life

I guess it's my fate

The two walked away leaving their note, vowing that their enemies would one day feel the same pain.

* * *

Back at the factory, everyone was celebrating the good news that Yumi and Ulrich had.

"I'm so happy for you!" Aelita shrieked. "We have good news too!" She said holding out her hand revealing a ring. Everyone shrieked and gasped and Yumi for once gave the hug instead of receiving it.

"How did he propose?" Kasey gasped.

* * *

-Flashback-

Jeremy and Aelita walked into the forest a little ways hand in hand.

"Aelita do you remember the first time we walked in these woods."

Aelita smiled, "Yeah you took me out here to let me feel and sense nature."

"Do you remember what else I said?"

Aelita blushed, as the two stopped by a tree that they had carved their initials into that day. "Yeah you said that you would always protect me, and that you always wanted to be with me."

Jeremy ran his hand over the inscription carved under the heart with their initials. "I will always love and care for you." Jeremy said reading the carving.

Jeremy dropped to a knee and grabbed Aelita's hand. "Aelita…will you do me the honor and…and marry me?"

Aelita smiled, and nodded, barely squeaking out a yes before her words were cut off by emotion. Jeremy stood up and placed a small ring on his fiancés quivering hand. The two kissed passionately and when they finally broke for air, they were in a total state of bliss.

-Present-

* * *

Everyone smiled and sighed at the happy story. The radio that Ulrich was wearing went off and he snatched it out of his vest.

"Stern here."

A rough, familiar voice came over the radio. "Stern this is Tinzo, I'm sure you haven't forgotten me already."

Ulrich smiled, he could never forget his old drill sergeant. "No sir, never, you are in Odd's nightmares all the time. He wakes up and has to tell them to me."

"Very funny Stern, but on a more serious note, I need you and the rest of Omega squad at the base camp."

"But we were promised a week of rest."

"I'm sorry Stern, but we can't afford you to be absent from the battle any longer. We need all the help we can get. Your friend gave us a chance to rebound, but we are nowhere near winning this war. Report in two hours."

"Sir" Ulrich sighed and he clicked off the radio.

"Ulrich I can't let you leave me…not now." Yumi cried rushing to her fiancé.

"I'll come back and we will get married. Do me a favor, take care of JJ."

Yumi nodded and JJ walked over to the raven-haired woman and grabbed her hand.

"I love you Kasey…I want to…" Kasey put a finger to Odd's mouth and kissed him.

"Odd I will marry you when you get back, don't worry."

Odd laughed, "Some proposal huh?"

"Yeah, it's perfect." Kasey said giving him a hug.

The couples said there goodbyes and the squad walked out, all except Chance who walked over to Millie.

"Millie, I love you and will return to continue this relationship, I'm…sorry I have to leave again."

"Sounds good." Millie said quickly kissed and Chance rejoined his war torn squad.

Omega Squad walked towards the camp. Each step drew them closer to impending danger.

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**Well more twists and you just thought the story was wrapping up. I came across a whole new idea, so this story is going for a while hopefully and as long as you still enjoy it. Please review and let me know what you think. Much thanks.**


	17. Shot

**Yep another chapter is here...once again it is short, but this is how it will be for a while since we have begun our baseball season. Do not despair though...just be patient. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code lyoko, any countries...ect. i do own my OC's and this story .**

* * *

A week after the squad had left the mysterious figure who had carefully stalked Yumi and Ulrich at the proposal chose to make her first move.

Kasey was walking through the park to gather her thoughts as she went to the ration tent for her weekly supplies.

"Just keep coming you bitch." The figure whispered as she placed Kasey's head neatly between the crosshairs of her scope. "Just a little closer."

Kasey paused for a moment. She thought she saw movement to her left. 'Ah it doesn't matter, this is a free part of France, it's safe here.' Kasey couldn't have been further from the truth.

"1…2…3…" The woman squeezed the trigger.

A loud bang was heard as the bullet whizzed towards it's target. It hit perfectly killing it's target instantly. The body fell to the ground limp and lifeless. Chance packed up his sniper rifle and headed farther along the ridge he was on.

"Nice shot Chance." Ulrich said over the radio.

"Thanks, I just want to get out of here and back home as soon as possible."

"What you don't like this nice outdoors life?" Odd asked sarcastically.

"No, I love it…it's the almost being killed every day that I can pass on."

Odd smiled, "Yeah I could sure use a rest from….."

A loud explosion cut him off mid-sentence.

Everyone rushed to find the claymore they had set up to watch their back exploded. A squad of enemy soldiers were lying dead on the path.

"Geez this sure cuts them down." Jesse said as he came up to the others.

"Yeah, Oh wait this ones still alive." Ivan said prodding a soldier with his boot.

"Ple…..Please…..Help….me!" the soldier pleaded.

Ivan looked at the helpless soldier and immediately realized he was too far gone to be saved.

"Here you go." Ivan said reaching into one of the dead soldiers packs and removing a syringe full of morphine. He quickly injected the pain killer into the dying man and the man's eyes rolled back into his head.

"At least he will die out of pain." Odd sighed, the killing was starting to take it's toll on everyone including himself.

"Come on, we have another three miles to check before sunset." Ulrich ordered and everyone gathered their gear and headed on.

Kasey tripped on a stone in the ground and fell to her right. The bullet exploded from the gun and nicked the redhead in the arm.

"Shit!" the mysterious figure uttered as she ran off into the rubble that surrounded the park.

"Ahhhhhhh." Kasey screamed clutching her arm and looking around. She ran to the factory and everyone was shocked to see her wound.

"Lay down, here let me look at it." Sissy said, gently cleaning the bleeding arm and bandaging it.

Kasey cringed in pain. "Who would do this?"

Yumi stared at her friend. "Hiroki come with me. We need to investigate."

Before anyone could object the siblings were on their way to the park armed with the rifles that Xana had left as a parting gift.

When they arrived in the park they found nothing until Yum saw the note on the back of the bench Ulrich had proposed to her at.

"What in the world?" She exclaimed as she read the poem and handed it to Hiroki.

"Oh my God, it's signed vengeance….and look!" Hiroki exclaimed turning the paper over.

There was a list on the back that had five names on it.

"Kasey, Yumi, Sissy, Hiroki, Millie." Hiroki read aloud.

"This is a hit list Hiroki."

"Who…who would want to kill us?" Hiroki asked staring at the note and then his sister.

The two rushed back to the factory to warn the others.

"I can't believe I missed!" vengeance yelled at her partner.

"So she moved at the last moment. We have all the time in the world to finish them off."

The woman smiled, "You are right, my friend…I must learn patience."

The two sighed and looked at the picture of their leader on the wall behind the table they sat at.

"Do you think he would condone such violence?"

"Of course he would, he spent most of his life threatening people."

"You are right this time." The man said as he turned and looked at the picture one last time.

The figure in the picture seemed to smile down upon his loyal subjects.

"To Hades." The female figure said raising her glass.

"To Hades."

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**Well the story continues...please let me know what you think.**


	18. Siblings

**Hey everyone. I would like to apologize for the wait, but i'm extremely busy with baseball and my schedule isn't going to lighten up for a few months. I hope you will all hang on and still read, just understand that updates will be a week or two at a time not a few days anymore. That being said here we are!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko, any countries, or the Boston Redsox...all are things i wish i owned...lol**

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The next week was filled with the every day boring routine of waiting. Yumi and the others had made the factory fairly livable and had even found some showers in the unexplored areas. Unfortunately, they still had to walk to the army post for supplies and everyone was on edge after what happened to Kasey. They decided that from then on they would all go as a group.

Kasey turned to Yumi as they walked down the path, "Do you think we will be attacked?"

Yumi frowned and scanned the area ahead of them as she had already done a dozen times. "I don't know. It looks safe, but they could be anywhere."

The two girls walked a few yards ahead of the others and Hiroki was walking behind the group, keeping an eye on Millie and Sissy. It had been agreed that if anything should happen, Hiroki would get the two girls out while Yumi and Kasey fought off the attack. The group continued walking in their cautious manner.

"Here they come Daniel." The cloaked figure said.

The man turned, "I see them. As we planned?"

"As we planned, see you later and good luck."

"You too Sarah."

The two hugged and then Daniel moved down the hill he was on, to position himself in front of the group while Sarah moved in to strike from behind.

"Damn…it is so hot today." Odd complained as the squad marched across another open field.

"Stop complaining, we had worse when we took P.E. with Jim."

"You should go to Texas sometime Odd." Chance laughed, "You'd never make it in the summers."

Ivan who was walking point held his hand up to stop.

"Over there about three hundred yards."

Everyone looked from their vantage point and saw a group of three trucks that were the same as the ones used to transport enemy weapons. A diesel truck with a back covered by canvas to hide what was being transported.

"We need to stop that convoy. If it gets to the main army they could do a lot of damage with those weapons in there." Ulrich said scanning the trucks with his binoculars.

Ivan, Odd and Ulrich slowly worked their way towards the convoy, while Jesse and Chance set up to snipe anyone who became aggressive.

The trees cast a shadow across the path and Hiroki paused as he passed into the shadow. He thought he saw movement. Hiroki dove behind a tree as he saw the gleam of a gun from the shadows.

"Everyone…!" Hiroki was cut off by the loud blasts of a rifle.

Sarah stepped out of the shadows and opened up on the group as they scattered. A bullet struck Millie in the leg and she fell to the ground.

"Oh….God…." The redhead coughed as the burning pain slowly spread through her entire leg. She tried to stand but her leg gave out and she collapsed to the ground clutching at the wound.

Yumi and Kasey made it to the trees and dove behind two for cover. When they turned around they saw Millie collapsed in the open and Sissy and Hiroki were nowhere to be seen.

"Stay here Yumi, I'm going after Millie, Cover me."

Yumi nodded and raised her rifle letting off a few rounds that caused Sarah to duck behind a boulder to the side of the path.

Kasey was almost to the wounded girl when Yumi heard a twig snap behind her.

She turned but was rewarded with a punch across the face. She fell to the ground and tried to scamper away but was kicked in the side before she could crawl.

"Stop….please stop." Yumi cried as she turned to see her attacker.

Daniel smiled down at her, "I won't stop until you are dead."

Yumi crawled backwards and ended up out on the path a ways away from Millie and Kasey.

"Sissy? Hiroki?" Yumi whimpered as Daniel pulled out his pistol and held it to Yumi's head.

"Sweet dreams bitch!" Daniel laughed as his finger slowly rested on the trigger.

"Daniel!" Sarah shrieked from down the path."

The large man pulled his finger of the trigger and looked down the path towards his sister's voice. Out of the shadows stepped Sarah with a pistol to her head. Hiroki standing on the other end of the pistol, fury and rage in his eyes.

"Drop the gun or your sister dies kid." Daniel yelled, but his voice started to quiver.

"Your friend is dead if you so much as lay another hand on my sister, let her go!"

Daniel forced Yumi to walk towards Hiroki and Sarah was soon forced to walk by the angry Japanese teen behind her.

"Last chance kid." Daniel yelled as the two groups walked within a few yards of each other.

"Brother? Why?" Sarah whimpered.

"We agreed to avenge father. You said we might die, now face your fate knowing we screwed up, but dad will be avenged."

"I don't want to die." Sarah said dropping to her knees tears streaming from her eyes.

Yumi was watching this unfold in shock as she too was on her knees. 'They are siblings, and we killed their father?' Yumi asked herself. She looked across and caught Hiroki's eyes.

'Oh God.' Yumi thought as she saw his hand twitch.

Daniel's eyes caught the movement of Hiroki's hand as the young man raised his gun to shoot.

Yumi dove to the side and Sarah mirrored her action on the other side.

Time seemed to stand still as the two sisters hit the ground and turned to see their brothers.

A whispered 'no' escaped both girls' mouths as both brothers raised their guns at each other.

Hiroki pulled the trigger and the bullet leapt out of his gun smashing into Daniel's chest. The larger man stumbled back and fell to the ground bleeding profusely.

Hiroki smiled and then collapsed. He looked in shock at his stomach. There was a large gaping hole that was pouring blood, the smoke of the bullet still lingering around the opening.

"Y….Yumi?" Hiroki gasped as his big sister ran to his side.

"Hiroki no….Stay with me you can't die brother you can't die."

"I…I..I love you sis." Hiroki coughed as his eyes glazed over and all life fled the boy.

"Hiroki?….Hiroki no!" Yumi screamed slapping his cheek in desperation.

"Yumi? What's going on?" Kasey yelled as she came running down the path followed by Sissy who was helping Millie on her bandaged leg.

Yumi didn't answer and she pulled out her pistol and looked over at Sarah crying over her fallen brother.

"No Yumi don't!" Kasey screamed as Yumi limped over to the girl and placed the gun to her head.

Sarah gasped as the cold steel barrel touched her head.

"You….you got my brother killed you bitch."

Sarah turned and looked Yumi in the eyes. "Please, just finish me so I can be with my family."

Yumi stared in shock at the girl who was begging for death.

"I….I…what do you mean family?" Yumi stuttered.

Kasey caught up to Yumi and snatched the gun out of her hands.

Sarah looked was full of despair, "You killed my father and now my brother is dead too."

"Who was your father?" Kasey demanded.

"He lead AMEA, he was Hades." Sarah muttered and passed out.

The four girls tied up Sarah and carried her back to the factory.

Kasey called the commander of the encampment and told him of the deaths and a jeep was sent to pick up the bodies.

Kasey didn't mention Sarah. When Yumi questioned her she just said, "it's a personal matter for us to deal with, the army wouldn't handle it right."

Yumi mourned her brother and Hiroki was buried the next day next to where they had buried Xana's body. A headstone was put in the ground.

"A brother to us all

guardian, protector, friend.

Rest in Peace."

The girls headed back inside the factory to find Sarah whimpering in the corner. Yumi felt both rage and compassion for the girl. 'She understood the feeling of loss, but she was the enemy, wasn't she?' Yumi wiped the thoughts out of her mind and went to a secluded place to rest.

Ulrich was within ten yards of the trucks when he saw movement inside. Odd crept up beside Ulrich and Ivan was a few seconds behind him.

"Storm the first truck and I'll take the second, Odd you take the third."

The three crept towards their respective trucks and counted to ten.

"GO!" Ulrich yelled and the three jumped into the covered back of each truck.

"What the hell?" Ulrich muttered as he found the truck empty.

Odd found an empty truck too, but Ivan found the source of the movement.

"Guys look at this!"

The two ran over to Ivan and found a dummy inside swaying back and forth.

"Oh God!" Ulrich gasped.

Outside the truck shots rang out and Jesse and Chance started shooting as fast as they could.

To their dismay twenty or thirty soldiers appeared from the hill opposite the snipers and unleashed a barrage of bullets on the three soldiers.

"It's a fucking ambush." Odd screamed as bullets whizzed around them.

The three dove under the trucks and found little cover.

"What do we do?" Odd screamed at Ulrich.

"I don't know?" was the scared reply.

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**Well i hope you liked it. Please review and let me know what you think. I look forward to your reviews and thanks again for reading.**


	19. Captive Spirit

**I want to just say a very heartfelt thanks to all of you who have waited around for this chapter. I am so very sorry for the delay in updates, but my schedule is packed an i am doing good to remember i have a story to finish. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Code Lyoko, just my own characters.**

**Note: I want to especially thank my faithful reviewers for hanging in there, please continue to be patient and let me know what you think.**

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Chance and Jesse were frantically firing at the onslaught of soldiers when they heard the sickening sound of guns being cocked behind them.

"Lower your weapons and you will not be killed."

Chance looked at Jesse who nodded and the two dropped their rifles and turned to face their captors. They found three young men of average height and build with assault rifles at the ready.

Odd felt a searing pain rip through his side and he looked down and saw blood pooling around him.

"Ahhh….Ulrich….I'm hit." Odd grimaced as he grabbed his side.

"Ulrich we can't fight our way out of this, especially with Odd shot." Ivan yelled from his shelter under one of the other trucks.

"I know…..we have to surrender."

The three soldiers tossed their rifles out from under the trucks and Ulrich slowly crawled out holding a white bandage in surrender.

"On the ground now!" A very rough looking soldier said as he ran up and knocked Ulrich to the ground.

"Ouch you….." Ulrich was punched across the face.

Ivan didn't fair any better, and Odd was on the verge of unconsciousness.

"Medic!" The soldier who dragged Odd out yelled and a medic rushed to the blonde boys side.

"You surrender to us?"

Ulrich nodded and Chance and Jesse were marched down the hill to stand along side their friends.

"Good, I am Grayson, you are now my prisoner and will do as I say."

All the soldiers, except Odd who was being patched together, nodded.

"Very good," Grayson said puffing his chest out, "We will take you for interrogation now."

"Oh boy." Ulrich sighed sarcastically and this brought a very small but welcome smile from Chance.

Jeremy was sitting in his tent when his commander walked in and saluted. Jeremy jumped up quickly and returned the salute.

"Sir, is there something you need?"

The commander paused for a moment, "Actually I have some bad news, your friends haven't reported in from their patrol yet. We believe they have been killed or captured."

Jeremy was silent. Every moment he had spent over the past few years with Odd and Ulrich, saving the world again and again, seemed to pass before him. After what seemed like an eternity he snapped back to reality.

"Thank you sir…uh can I inform their loved ones personally?"

The commander nodded sadly, "We need a tech man in that sector anyways. I was on my way to assign you there when the news of your friends arrived. I'm sorry I can do nothing more to help you son."

Jeremy thanked the commander again and packed his stuff and waited for the jeep that was coming to take him back home. 'home, what kind of home will it be if we never see Odd and Ulrich again?' Jeremy dashed the thought from his head and a jeep pulled up in front of him. He tossed his stuff in and started preparing his mind for the tragic news he had to share.

"I have some bad news for you….you aint getting a word out of me you ugly bastards."

Another fist landed square across Chance's jaw and he fell over in the chair he was in. Odd and the others were also tied to chairs in the dimly lit room.

"He never really learned the proper timing for talking shit did he?" Jesse sighed as he tried to scoot closer to Odd.

"A lot like me." Odd laughed, as he admired the cuts and bruises he wore from going through the interrogation before Chance. His side had been relatively left alone during the interrogation, but it still hurt like hell from where the bullet had struck him.

Ulrich cracked a smile through is bloody lips.

"I can't take much more of this stubbornness, I'm going to have you all killed." The interrogator said as he stormed out of the room.

All the boys sagged in their chairs. They were alone for the first time since being captured.

"So how do we escape?" Ivan groaned as he worked at the ropes that held him securely in his chair.

"I don't know yet, but they won't keep us alive for long." Ulrich grimaced.

"Then let's kill them walk out of here and declare ourselves unstoppable." Odd smirked.

Chance laughed but the others just gave a 'shut up' look and went back to thinking.

The door opened and a light hit their faces causing them all to squint to see around the light, but everything was a white glowing blur.

Jeremy arrived in front of the factory. It was ironic that this had become their new home, since for years it had been an escape from home and the everyday life for them. Now it was all they had.

"Jeremy?" Millie questioned as she looked up and saw the man standing there as the jeep drove away.

"Hey Millie." Jeremy said in a melancholy tone. 'The news will hit her hard.' Jeremy thought as the younger girl ran and gave him a friendly hug.

"Come in the others will want to see you…especially Aelita." Millie smirked.

Jeremy blushed at the last remark, but smiled and followed the redhead inside.

As the two walked in, Jeremy spotted Yumi tossing a small rubber ball around with JJ. He waved to her and she waved back then picked up JJ and headed over towards her old friend.

"Jeremy? What's wrong?" Yumi asked seeing the worried look on his face.

"I'll tell you once everyone is gathered."

Yumi nodded, and Sissy and Kasey arrived on the elevator that had been fixed by army technicians a week earlier. The two joined the group and everyone looked at Jeremy.

"Shouldn't we wait for Hiroki?" Jeremy asked not knowing of the young man's recent death.

Yumi's face glassed over and she tried to hide her emotions but like always when Hiroki came to mind she couldn't hold the tears back. JJ jumped out of Yumi's arms and ran to Millie scared that she might upset Yumi more.

Kasey hugged Yumi and looked at Jeremy, "Jer…Hiroki was killed in a skirmish, but we do need to bring one more person to this meeting."

Kasey ran off to the back of the factory and Jeremy continued comforting Yumi. When Kasey returned Jeremy saw a girl with her. A girl that was in chains being led by Kasey.

"Who is this and why…." Jeremy stopped as Kasey held her hand up.

"This is Sarah, she was a part of the attack that killed Hiroki, and she is our prisoner not the military's. We will deal with her as we see fit."

Jeremy was shocked by the hatred that seemed to fill the two older girls, but Sarah seemed to be in good condition.

"What news do you have?" Kasey asked and everyone, including Sarah, turned their eyes on the blonde man.

"I…I." Jeremy sighed, 'this won't be easy' he told himself. "I have some bad news about the others."

Everyone gasped and even Sarah appeared to worry which surprised Jeremy immensely.

"The squad never reported in. We have searched for them but no bodies have been found. All we can figure is that they were captured."

The girls all stared in silence for a moment until a small quiet voice broke the quiet. "What sector were they in?"

Jeremy turned towards the prisoner. "Why? What's it matter."

Sarah looked at the ground in what appeared to be shame. "I'm the daughter of Hades…the former leader…I might be able to help you free your friends."

"No! You just want to lead us into another trap and get us all killed." Yumi exclaimed.

Sarah looked at Yumi, "It is not only you who lost a brother. I feel the same pain every day as you do. I'm tired of this war. I only wanted revenge for my father's death, but I didn't know what that death would do to others."

"How could you not have known?" Yumi screamed, causing JJ to burrow her head into Millie's side.

Sarah stood up and for the first time put on an air of defiance. "I only thought of you as murderers and rebellious numbers on paper. I didn't know you were just like me!"

Everyone grew silent as Sarah started crying.

"Sector 32 by the river."

Sarah looked at Jeremy, "I can tell you what I know, but it's not good. The man who runs that area is named Grayson and he has a short fuse with prisoners. We have little time to try and save your friends."

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**I hope you liked the chapter and so now it's time for some input. Please review, thanks.**


	20. Only Hope

**Well we played a home series this weekend in baseball, so i had a little more time to write (: I hope you all enjoy this chapter, please...i know it is short, but i'm gathering my thoughts for the final chapter or two so this chapter is as much for me as for you. Now enjoy!**

**Don't own Code Lyoko...**

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The white light was blocked by the silhouette of a large man. Chance stared open-mouthed as the man ducked to enter the room. The man was a good seven feet tall and was easily three hundred pounds of pure muscle.

"Oh my God! What did they do to you?" Odd said shocked at the sight of the beast of a man.

"I must break you." The large man uttered in a deep growl.

The large man walked over to Ivan and stared at the Russian for a moment. "You I shall deal with first."

The man untied Ivan from the chair and stepped away. "Come little man, now we have some fun."

Ivan gathered himself into a fighting stance. The large man lunged at Ivan and caught him with a powerful punch that broke two ribs upon impact.

"Shit!" Ivan coughed holding his side. The large man tried another punch, but Ivan rolled out of the way and stood behind Chance.

"I will not go around, you are only endangering your friends by hiding behind them."

Ivan's face turned to a look of panic and fear. The large man charged planning to crush Chance along the way. As the large man came upon him Chance rolled out of the chair and swept his leg out in a kick tripping the big man.

"What the……" Ivan ended the large man's words and life with a kick to the head as he fell that snapped the man's neck. The large man fell in a crumpled lifeless heap at Ivan's feet.

"Thanks for the help."

"Thanks for untying me….good acting too."

The two soldiers freed their friends and they all gathered at the doorway. Battered and bruised the slowly started to plan their escape.

A truck pulled up to the guard post. Grayson eyed the truck carefully. It seemed out of place, but he might be receiving reinforcements or supplies so it was best not to shoot first without checking it out. Grayson walked up to the truck and looked at the driver.

"What is your business here?"

"I…we are seeking refuge….a place to rest for a little while." Jeremy stuttered from behind the wheel.

"Who is we?" Grayson growled.

"It is me Grayson." Sarah said getting out of the back of the truck.

"Sarah? Where is your brother, I thought you died with your father?"

"I was lucky, my friends were able to help me escape, but a sniper picked brother off as he was climbing into the truck."

Grayson went to the back to see three girls in the back and a blood smear where it looked like a person had been shot.

"We can offer you some supplies and a place to rest for a few days, but I can't promise you a safe environment."

"Thank you, we will take anything right now." Sarah said and jumped into the cab with Jeremy.

The truck pulled in and Grayson headed back to check on the interrogation.

Ivan crept down the hall followed by Odd, then Chance, and Ulrich holding the rear. Ivan ducked into a room and found clothes and weapons. The group changed and hurried out and into the hall again.

"Do you know where you're going?" Chance whispered to Ivan.

"No, I haven't a clue."

"Well…." Chance was cut off by the sound of an alarm.

"I think they found us missing." Odd cringed.

"RUN!" Ulrich yelled as he opened fire on three guards that had just realized who the mysterious soldiers in the hall were.

All four took off down a hall hoping to find an exit before it was too late.

Sarah and the others heard the alarm go off inside the complex.

"Those boys are going to get themselves killed running around in there." Sarah gasped. She had no real understanding why she was helping these people free their friends. She had never really believed her father's idealistic ways, but she loved him anyways.

"What do we do?" Yumi asked, snapping Sarah out of her thoughts.

"I'll go in and find your friends, stay here and guard the truck. Just act natural unless anyone gives you too much trouble."

Everyone nodded and Sarah disappeared into the complex leaving the others outside to hope that their newest ally wouldn't betray them.

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**Hope you liked it...I want to say thanks to everyone who reviews, it helps me enjoy writing that much more. Thanks.**


	21. Finale

**Hey Guys, well i'm sorry for the abscence of a chapter for a few weeks. Please don't hate me. This is the final chapter so please enjoy and please review.**

**Disclaimer: don't own Code Lyoko**

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Aelita, Kasey and Millie grabbed their guns and sat down around the truck trying to look bored, yet partway interested in the alarm going off.

Two soldiers ran towards the newly arrived group and ran up to Jeremy.

"We need you five to cover the back entrance and make sure no one comes in or out." The first soldier yelled pointing towards a door that led into the compound off to the right.

"Right away, everyone grab your gear and come with me!" Jeremy yelled to the others who hurriedly grabbed their stuff and ran after the usually timid computer whiz.

Yumi caught up beside Jeremy as they ran. "Where did that confidence come from?"

Jeremy blushed a little, "I don't know, just….I figured I would respond quickly and make it seem real."

"Good job." Yumi smiled as they arrived at the door.

Millie and Yumi stepped next to the door while Aelita and the others remained further away to scan for trouble from the compounds 'other guards.'

Ulrich rounded a corner and ran a girl about Yumi's height over. She bounced back and hit the far wall. Ulrich gave a look of apology as they kept running past. Chance was the last one to run past and the girl grabbed his leg tripping him up.

"What the…." Chance yelled as he hit the ground hard.

Sarah stood up and ran to Chance, "I'm sorry, but I'm here to lead you out before you head deeper into this maze of a compound."

Chance stared at her dumbfounded and the others came to his side, Odd and Ivan with their guns aimed at the mysterious girl.

"Look Yumi and the others are outside in a truck, we have a small amount of time before they are captured we need to go."

Ulrich felt his heart leap at the mention of Yumi. "Ok let's go!" He yelled helping Chance up.

Odd stopped him and pushed the whole group into an empty room and out of the hall. "How do we know this isn't a trap?"

"Odd she mentioned Yumi! Ulrich protested.

"She could have more on our background than we thought possible, it could be a trap."

Sarah stared at the boys in desperation. She knew the window of time to get them out was rapidly closing.

"JJ misses you all."

The boys turned back to Sarah.

"What did you say?"

"I said JJ sends her love. The girl you…"

Ulrich and the others nodded.

"That is one thing we didn't tell anyone about." Ulrich said as he walked over to the door. "It's clear…take us home uh…"

"I'm Sarah."

With that they walked into the hall. Sarah took off down a hall that lead towards the back exit. They rounded the last corner and came face to face with Grayson.

"Sarah you disappoint me." The man said firing his pistol into Sarah's stomach.

Odd rounded the corner next and unloaded his clip into the man killing him before he hit the ground.

Sarah felt a blinding pain in her side. She stood for a moment in shock and her knees began to buckle.

"Go….go through that door and to the truck….good luck."

Chance ran ahead and burst through the door and was immediately tackled. Before he could free himself he realized who was holding him.

"Millie?"

"Chance! Come on we are going to get you out of here, the girl yelled as she jumped off Chance and pointed towards the truck."

"I love you." Chance smiled and started across the opening towards the truck.

Ivan, Jesse, Aelita and Jeremy sprinted for the truck as well. The motion drew attention and soldiers started firing on the group.

Yumi and Kasey exchanged glances and ran inside. There they found Sarah gasping for breath, Odd and Ulrich were by her side, tears in their eyes.

"I….I…don't want to die." Sarah gasped tears running down her face.

Outside the truck started and ran through the compound fence and headed away from the base.

"Yumi can you hear us?"

Yumi clicked her radio and responded to Aelita's frantic call.

"I'm sorry Yumi we had to leave we will come back for you as soon as we can turn around."

"Don't bother, save yourselves, the four of us will get out on our own."

Aelita sat next to Jeremy who was driving at break neck speeds. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, you did the right thing."

Yumi turned off the radio and looked back. Kasey was holding Sarah's hand. Sarah paled to a stark white and gasped for air once more.

"Brother?" Sarah gasped as her eyes closed and she fell into the light that had been trying to overtake her. On the other side her brother was waiting to welcome her.

Kasey closed Sarah's lifeless eyes and the four ran for the exit.

It happened that in all the confusion most of the compounds forces pursued the truck that had burst out of the camp. Jeremy was smart enough to ditch the truck a few miles out and after many long hours of hiding and running, the group that had been in the truck made it back to the factory.

A week went by since the break out and still there was no sign of Kasey and the others. Millie and Chance sat on a hill overlooking the city.

"Do you think they made it out?" Millie said leaning in close to Chance who held her close.

"I hope so, but I don't know since we haven't even received a message from them."

Chance leaned in and gently kissed Millie on the head. Ever since Hades death, AMEA had been crumbling and now it seemed like most of France was returning to its once peaceful state.

"So I'm gone for a week and you just assume I didn't make it….thanks Chance."

Chance and Millie both turned around to see Odd and Kasey standing there smiling. Chance and Millie ran over and grabbed their friends both jumping with excitement.

"Wait…where's Yumi and Ulrich?" Millie asked worried.

"Don't tell me they…." Chance said sadly.

Kasey and Odd both started laughing.

"No those two are in Paris right now."

"Paris?" Millie and Chance both asked at once.

"Yeah, we had to head out of the way once we got out of the base to avoid all the troops returning after losing you….and….well we came across this nice country side church."

"They didn't!" Millie gasped in surprise.

"Yep, they got married and are in Paris on a honeymoon right now." Kasey said laughing.

Chance sighed, "I'm glad you are all safe."

Odd embraced his friend once more and for once had a serious look on his face, "Me too man, me too."

The four headed down the hill to meet the others and celebrate the bright future that lay ahead of them.

Epilogue 

A few day later Ulrich and Yumi returned to the factory and together they began their future.

Ivan stayed around for a few weeks, but he soon grew homesick and headed home to Russia. He occasionally checks in with the others to see how they are.

Chance and Millie continued dating and after a month Chance finally proposed. The two went back to America to get married and now live somewhere in Texas.

Jesse moved back to America before Chance and Millie and was the best man in their wedding. He settled down with his girlfriend back home.

Aelita and Jeremy got married and took up teaching positions at Kadic.

Kasey and Odd married and after a year of just having fun they set up a record label that discovered some of the best French musicians of the day.

Sissy couldn't stand the memories of Kadic and moved away. She took up a career in modeling and her commercials are often Odd's favorite topics to make fun of.

Last of all Yumi and Ulrich. The two did return from their honeymoon and adopted JJ. The three live close to Kadic and Ulrich works as an assistant P.E. instructor to Jim. Yumi works out of their house while she takes care of JJ.

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**Well I hope you really enjoyed this story...Please review for my sake. i want to know what you think. For the future i'm going to write a few oneshots along the way, but no long stories in the near future. Thanks again to all of you who have put up with my slow updating. Thanks.**


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